A 24-year-old woman has been arrested after a baby was rescued from a rubbish chute in the Greek city of Kalamata.

The baby, thought to be only days old, was discovered on Wednesday by a local woman who heard it crying from the bin.

The newborn baby’s life was reportedly narrowly saved because a rubbish collection van was running late.

“The baby was fortunate in its misfortune… there was a delay in the day’s collection,” Kalamata’s Mayor, Thanassis Vassilopoulos, said.

“The garbage trucks do not just load waste, they compress it,” he added in an interview with Alpha TV.

The local woman who found the baby, Vassiliki Tsoni, said the child was found inside a paper bag, several metres down inside the stone rubbish store structure.

“The chute was half full. I was shouting, nobody was stopping to help,” she told local website Newsit.

According to Ms Tsoni, some neighbours tried to alleviate her concerns and said the cry she heard must have been coming from a kitten and not a human.

Two police officers later arrived at the scene and were able to rescue the baby. The child was taken to hospital, but is expected to make a full recovery, according to local reports.

Police later confirmed the suspected mother of the baby, who is reportedly a Georgian national, was arrested for attempted murder.