Search launched for mother after baby found in a beer crate along with six-year-old brother in Vietnam

Baby being treated in hospital in Hanoi

Police are searching for the boys' mother (AFP/Getty Images)

A search is underway for a mother after a baby was found in a beer crate alongside his six-year-old brother in Vietnam.

Footage posted online showed the older boy in tears as he desperately clung to the plastic crate which held his young brother.

He said their mother left him and his baby brother on the pavement outside a church in Thu Doc district, Hanoi, at 5am on Friday, the Daily Mail reported.

His mother had told him she was getting petrol from across the road.

However, she never returned. The boys were discovered later that morning by passers-by.

Nguyen Thi Hong Chau, deputy director of the Board of Directors from Thu Duc Youth Village, said the older boy was found in a “state of panic”.

Police have been alerted and authorities are now trying to locate the children’s parents.

The baby is being treated in hospital.