The governor has also ordered an investigation into the disappearance and for everyone connected to the hospital to be questioned. The prince is adamant on bringing the kidnapper or kidnappers to justice.

Members of the public in Madinah are shocked by the disappearance, the first of its kind in the holy city in living memory. Police are also on high alert searching for clues to find the child. Security has been increased at the hospital.

According to a statement issued by the Health Affairs Department in Madinah, the baby was in good health and had been with his mother and grandmother. He was noticed missing at 7 a.m. Sunday and the matter was reported to the hospital’s director general, Ali Al-Muhammadi. As a result, the hospital’s doors were shut and a search was launched.

The child’s mother, Um Abdul Rahman, said she is hopeful the person who has taken her son, who she named Anas, will bring him back. Um Abdul Rahman has two other children, Abdul Rahman, 6, and Raghad, 4. “They have not seen their infant brother and were looking all over the hospital for him," she said teary-eyed.

Um Abdul Rahman said she does not remember how her son went missing as she was under anesthetics at the time. She also said that he resembled his elder brother and sister, and that she had only seen him for a short time and was unable to feed him.

Um Abdul Rahman’s mother, who was at the hospital when Anas went missing, said her daughter gave birth at around 6 a.m. Saturday following a Caesarian operation and that she saw the person who took the child.

“I was looking after the child because my daughter was under the influence of anesthetics. A dark and fat woman with honey eyes came to me several times in the room. I did not see her face clearly and thought she was accompanying someone else but she told me that she was working for a health training academy and that she was under training at the hospital,” she said.

“I came to know from her that she was divorced and loved children. Though she had no ID, I did not doubt her. She asked me to go to sleep and said she would take care of Anas, but I refused. However, after a little while I dozed off because I hadn’t slept for three nights. When I woke up around six, Anas wasn’t there,” she said.

“I asked the nurses and checked around the hospital in vain. I informed the hospital and the security guards who started looking for the child at 7 a.m. It was this woman who stole our child. She had come and visited us several times. I hope she comes up on the hospital's cameras, but a nurse said the cameras have not been working for quite some time,” she said.

“I hope her heart softens and she returns our child to us,” she added.

The child’s uncle, Abdullah Al-Muzaini, said: “No one would have imagined that a baby could be kidnapped from a hospital where there is security and cameras … now there are no clues to finding the person who took the boy. Everyone is suspecting this large, dark-skinned woman who spoke fluent Arabic with a Saudi accent. She’d been visiting the room since Asr and had been asking about the baby and his mother.

“After the grandmother had gone to sleep, she sneaked in and took the baby. When the mother and grandmother woke up the baby wasn’t there. Now everyone is in a terrible mental shape.”

— With input from Yousuf Muhammad