Hotline reunites loved ones

By Cui Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-09 07:42

They had been desperately searching for their 17-year-old son since the riots in Urumqi broke out on Sunday, but it was finally the parents' last gift that led him to them.

"Our staff spotted his body in the photo database of those who were killed in the violence," Zhang Yi, the director of FM 92.9, a radio station in the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, told China Daily Wednesday.

"Besides the matching facial and bodily descriptions provided by his parents, staff also found him wearing a brand new pair of Adidas trainers they had bought for him two days before the riots," he said.

Zhang said they were still waiting for confirmation of the boy's death from police.

The latest identification was some of the help being given to victims of the riots through a missing persons hotline - 0991-2561-929/2563-929/2565-929 - set up by his radio station on Monday.

As of Wednesday, the riots have killed more than 150 people and injured more than 1,000 others.

FM 92.9's hotline was inspired by an employee's attempt to find his father, whom he had also lost contact with after the riots.

Details of 36 missing persons from various ethnic groups collected via the hotline have been broadcast via the radio station since Monday, with seven people found, Zhang said.

"I really appreciate the help from the radio station," said Yimagan, a member of the Uygur ethnic group in his 40s.

His daughter Ayigakeli was due back in Urumqi by train on Monday afternoon, but she had not contacted her parents by the time the train arrived.

"There were still clashes around the city, so I was worried when I could not reach my daughter on her mobile phone," Yimagan said.

He decided to ask the radio station's hotline for help at about 5 pm as a last resort.

Within half an hour, Ayigakeli's details were on air, Yimagan said.

"Ayigakeli finally called from a landline at about midnight, saying that for safety reasons she traveled to Changji, a town near Urumqi, and could not make calls from her mobile," he said.