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Man Reported Missing in Shenzhen Landslide Found Alive… Playing Video Games

He had no idea the landslide even happened

A 17 year-old male who was reported missing after the landslide that struck Shenzhen on December 20 has turned up safe and sound playing video games in an Internet bar.

The man, named Chen, originally came to Shenzhen with his sister for work. But after losing all contact with him following the landslide, Chen’s sister reported him missing, unable to find him or reach him by phone.

Two social workers, named Li Yu and Qiu Lingfei, were assigned to help the sister and contacted local law enforcement to track Chen’s IP address. Discovering that Chen was addicted to online role-playing video games, the group guessed that Chen might very well be hidden away in one of the city’s internet bars. After a day of searching, Chen was tracked to an unnamed internet bar. When found, Chen said that he had no idea the landslide occurred, or that so many people were looking for him. As it turns out, he simply had turned his phone off for a few days.

Reunited, Chen and his sister returned to Guizhou on the 27th.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen police have taken “compulsory measures” against 12 people responsible for the landslide, while the head official in charge of the district Xu Yuan’an committed suicide on Sunday.

Only one person has been rescued alive from the landslide so far, and 75 remain missing.

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor