MIRI - POLICE here have arrested a 23-year-old single mother whose baby was found dead in her house after she confessed that the infant was alive when she gave birth in her bathroom.

The woman, who claimed that her boyfriend had fathered the child, was arrested Saturday at Miri Hospital where she had been warded for the past three days.

On Wednesday, the baby girl was discovered in the wee hours of the morning in the house located in a village in Lutong bazaar, 12km from here.

The jobless woman, who was seven-months pregnant then, was said to have been rushed to the Miri Hospital by relatives after she was found bleeding profusely on Tuesday night.

Hospital staff attending to her sensed something amiss but she refused to say anything despite being questioned at length.The hospital staff then called the police. It was only then that she admitted she had given birth to the baby.

Police went to the house and found the baby already dead inside a bedroom. The woman said the baby died after being born while she was bathing on Tuesday night.

The woman was admitted into the post-delivery ward for the past three days as she was very weak.

A police source said the woman had claimed that the baby died shortly after birth.

'The woman said she wrapped the dead baby in a piece of cloth and hid it in her bedroom as she did not know what to do. We have arrested her to facilitate investigations,' said an investigating officer.

Miri police chief Asst Comm Jamaluddin Ibrahim was out of town and could not comment. -- THE STAR/ANN