1,000 human fetuses discovered frozen in Hanoi apartment

The discovery followed a civilian tip off about a group of people seen carrying black bags in the area, Kinh te & Do thi newspaper reported.

Police said Saturday they secretly tracked the group to an apartment in Ha Dong District, where they subsequently found two freezers containing the fetuses.

Four people have been summoned to answer questions regarding the freezers which, together with their content, have been transferred to a district funeral home.

Initial investigations revealed the four suspects are volunteers who often collect aborted fetuses from clinics and garbage dumpsters to afford them a proper funeral in Hanoi's Thanh Oai, Soc Son districts and Nam Dinh Province. Due to the great distance, the team had been storing the fetuses inside freezers before sending them to their final resting places.

Police have said while the incident is not criminal in nature, still raised environmental concerns.

An investigation is ongoing.

Vietnam ranks among the top worldwide in abortion rates, according to official health reports. The Mothers and Children Health Department under the Ministry of Health recorded 14 abortions for every 100 births in the country in 2018.

Reasons of high abortion rate vary from baby sex selection to the lack of sexual health education, and the fact that premarital sex remains a taboo, which leaves a young woman subject to harsh backlash should she fall pregnant out of wedlock.