Termite exterminators working on a house renovation in Japan's capital city Tokyo uncovered at least seven bodies of babies immersed in six bottles. Some of the babies had their umbilical cords still attached, local news agency Jiji reported.
At least 16 bottles were discovered Sunday underneath the floor at a house in Hakusan, Bunkyo Ward in Tokyo. However, out of those 16 jars, 10 were empty. The house is said to be 80 years old and was abandoned for the last three years.
The babies' ages are not known yet, but Jiji reported that they were either aborted or might have died during birth. It is also not clear for how long the babies were preserved in the bottles. Reports suggest that an obstetrician had once lived in the house, which is now being renovated.
The bodies were kept in the bottle that had liquid resembling to be formalin, a colorless solution of formaldehyde in water. Police are investigating the case.
The gruesome discovery came to light after a woman, who purchased the house, hired an exterminator to check the property. The exterminator found the bodies of the babies and informed the woman, who filed a police report.
Before the woman purchased the house, the property was managed by a couple with their now deceased grandparents, who were both obstetricians and gynecologists, the publication reported.
A neighbor told the publication that the obstetricians and gynecologists ran a hospital near the house and they might have shifted the bottles with dead bodies into the house when the hospital got shut around 70 years ago.
