Workers Find Deceased Infants At Wastewater Treatment Plant
By Peak Johnson
Tragically, two fetuses were found earlier this month at a wastewater treatment plant on James Island in South Carolina.
Police had responded on August 8 to a report that the Plum Island Wastewater Treatment Plant had discovered a deceased infant, according to The Post and Courier.
Upon arrival, Charleston police were taken to a pump station and shown what looked to be two “preterm babies” recovered from the wastewater, The Post and Courier reported.
Employees were cleaning out filter screens when they spotted what looked to a small hand, KMOV.com reported. One employee gathered the remains of one baby and then saw a second.
According to an incident report obtained by KMOV, both fetuses were not intact.
The ages of the fetuses was difficult to tell, according to Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten, per The Post and Courier. She added, however, that they could have been “second trimester.”
“We don’t have anywhere to start,” Wooten told The Post and Courier. “It is probably a very isolated situation.”
A spokesman for the Charleston Water System said that this was an “unfortunate situation,” one that they have never experienced at the plant, reported ABC News 4.
Authorities are not aware of who disposed of the fetuses at the wastewater treatment plant or why.
The Plum Island Wastewater Treatment Plant’s chief operating officer said that the plant brings in wastewater from James Island, downtown Charleston, and West Ashley, according to KMOV.
He added that it was “most likely” that the babies could have come from the West Ashley area because of the intake pipes used, KMOV reported. This would have made it difficult for the fetuses to make it through.
The Charleston County Coroner's Office said that they will not do further testing on the fetuses because they were in a state of early development.