A grandmother was discovered inside cardboard boxes after being abandoned by a family in the latest shocking example of an horrific trend that has been crudely dubbed 'granny dumping'.
The elderly woman was left on the side of a public highway with no food.
Social networks then witnessed public outrage, as the women's own family left her alone with just a few blankets.
The woman was found by local neighbours in the Joaquín Colombres neighbourhood, in Puebla, Mexico.
Concerns grew when the woman was seen roaming outside a business on December 25th Street.
Her frail state sparked the locals to call for emergency services for help.
When she was discovered, she was offered bread and coffee, as she evidently hadn't eaten in a while.
Personnel from DIF Municipal System arrived at the scene to which the grandmother then admitted that it was in fact her own family who had purposely left her behind.
She is currently in custody within DIF facilities, reports The Daily Star.
Sadly, this case is not totally unique. An American man took his dementia-suffering father on a flight from Los Angeles to the UK where he too was later abandoned.
Known as “granny dumping” the all-too-common phenomenon is seen throughout the world.
In fact, in the US around 100,000 elderly relatives are abandoned each year.
The cause for the careless dumping often comes down to lack of finances to pay for their care or a complete unwillingness to help.
However, the cause for this women's abandonment remains unknown.
In the UK, the average weekly cost of living in a residential care home is £704, while the average nursing home costs around £888 per week.
The monthly average cost of residential care is £2816 and receiving nursing care in a care home costs on average £3552.
Live-in carers' fees start at around £900 to £1400 per week but could also go up to as much as £2,000 per week.
