‘Missing’ man must cover cost of search
Print Edition
A man who orchestrated his own disappearance in the wilds of southwest China’s Sichuan Province has been ordered to pay thousands of yuan to cover the cost of the search effort launched to find him.
Zou Ming, 27, traveled to the Heizhugou Nature Reserve on May 6, but soon went off the radar, prompting his family to notify the authorities.
A rescue effort was launched involving thousands of people, but it was called off on May 21. It cost his family nearly 200,000 yuan (US$30,520) and the reserve’s management committee 63,000 yuan, West China Metropolis Daily reported.
Zou, who is from Wuxi City in east China’s Jiangsu Province, later resurfaced in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and admitted that he deliberately disappeared because he wanted to start a new life, Chengdu Business Daily reported.
Zou said he entered the Heizhugou Nature Reserve at 9am on May 6, and phoned his wife to tell her where he was. But he soon left, threw away his SIM card so he could not be tracked and got a ride to Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital, before hitchhiking to Tibet to “get lost for four or five years,” the paper reported.
Despite seeing media reports about his disappearance and the great distressed it was causing his friends and family, he was determined to remain missing, the paper reported.
“I didn’t think my life should go on like this. I didn’t feel happy,” Zou said, explaining that he suffered poor health, had difficulty communicating with his parents, and found city life depressing.
He said he had planned to return to Sichuan and settle in Sertar County to learn traditional Chinese medicine, the paper reported.
It was reported that Zou had used the ID card of a stranger who closely resembled him to get a bank card and check in to hotels. According to China’s ID Card Law, he could be punished with a fine of between 200 to 1,000 yuan and detention of up to 10 days.
The reserve’s management committee has ordered Zou to pay it 63,000 yuan to cover its rescue expenses, and fined him 1,000 yuan for entering a virgin forest that is off limits to tourists and littering, according to its statement.
Guo Yuncheng, the committee’s director, told West China Metropolis Daily that Zou’s father, Zou Qiang, promised to pay the bill, apologized for his son’s actions and thanked the rescuers.
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