MANILA, Philippines — As trash was carried from a plane that had just landed at Manila's airport, a security officer on the tarmac spied something moving in one of the bags.

He opened it, and found a newborn baby wrapped with tissue paper and covered in blood.

"The baby was left for dead. It was already bluish in color," airport press officer Connie Bungag said. "He could have died in a matter of minutes if he was not found."

The story evoked pity and outrage around the world as Philippine authorities worked today to identify a mother who apparently gave birth on a commercial flight and abandoned the child in a trash bin on the plane.

The six pound, nine ounce (three kilogram) boy was among refuse unloaded by cleaners of a Gulf Air plane after its arrival Sunday from Bahrain, airport officials said.

The infant, still attached to the placenta, was taken to an airport clinic, where doctors and nurses cleaned him, gave him a checkup, wrapped him in cloth and mittens and warmed him under a light bulb, airport doctor Maria Teresa Agores said.

"He was healthy, his vital signs were OK," nurse Kate Calvo said.