Police are trying to trace the mother of a baby whose body was found floating in a bag in a river.

The baby girl was recovered from a tributary of the Lek in Lekkerkerk, near Rotterdam, at around 1pm on Friday, March 3.

The area was sealed off while forensic teams carried out a search and examined the body. Police said she may have been placed in the water elsewhere and drifted downstream.

In a statement, Zuid-Holland police said: ‘The investigative team is trying to establish who the baby is, what happened to the child and what the cause of death was. Police are also concerned about whether the mother has received medical care.’

Anyone with information or who has photographs of the area in the days before March 3 is asked to contact police on 0900 8844 or via the anonymous hotline on 0800 7000.