A cleaner found a human foetus on an Emirati passenger plane after it landed in Manila, Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said.

'Etihad Airways can confirm that a human foetus was discovered on board one of its aircraft at Ninoy Aquino airport in Manila by a member of the airport's cleaning staff on Monday,' the UAE carrier was quoted as saying in a report in our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

'Any media enquiries should be directed to local police,' it added in a brief statement.

The six- to seven-month lifeless foetus was found in the garbage bin of a toilet on board a plane which flew in from Abu Dhabi. It was wrapped in a diaper.

Last September, a live baby boy was found in a trash bin in a toilet on a Gulf Air jet shortly after it landed at Manila airport.

Last month, a newborn baby was reportedly found strangled to death and dumped in a bathroom bin at Dubai airport.

Police said they were working with Interpol to hunt an African woman believed to have given birth to the baby in the airport before she dumped the child and flew home.