CNN
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For three months, the disappearance of Hu Xinyu gripped China.
The whereabouts of the 15-year-old, who vanished from a boarding school in southern Jiangxi province in October, was for months among the many most mentioned subjects on the Chinese web.
It prompted quite a few questions, hypothesis and spherical after spherical of exhaustive police searches – together with one joined by thousands of residents earlier this month.
Then, on Sunday – greater than 100 days after Hu went missing – native police stated Hu’s physique had been found within the woods close to his school.
The discovery was made by a member of the general public on Thursday. The physique was carrying garments matching these Hu wore when he went missing, prompting police to summon his household and their lawyer to the scene.
DNA checks later confirmed the physique to be Hu, police in Shangrao metropolis stated in a assertion.
A voice recorder found close to the physique had been despatched for evaluation, the assertion stated.
But reasonably than deliver closure, the invention has solely raised extra questions as to the circumstances surrounding his demise.
Hu’s demise was the highest trending subject on China’s Twitter-like Weibo on Monday, with several hashtags raking up a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of views.
Many feedback questioned why the in depth police searches – full with sniffer canine, drones and thermal imaging gear – failed to find the physique in an space so near the school.
The woodland the place Hu was found is barely 5 minutes’ stroll from the school, separated by a campus wall about two meters excessive, China National Radio reported.
An post-mortem has been performed, however the outcomes haven’t been launched, based on The Paper, a state-run information web site.
It isn’t uncommon for youngsters and youngsters to go missing in China, however the disappearance of Hu is one of essentially the most high-profile instances in recent times. According to the Zhongmin Social Assistance Institute, a Beijing-based nonprofit, a million people went missing in China in 2020 – a median of 2,739 per day.
On Chinese social media, some questioned why, in a nation identified for its ubiquitous safety cameras and high-tech surveillance, a 15-year-old boy may seemingly disappear with out a hint.
Hu had simply began finding out on the Zhiyuan High School, a personal boarding school Yanshan county the place he was admitted with a scholarship in September, when he all of a sudden vanished.
He was final seen on safety digicam footage strolling down a hallway in his dormitory at nightfall on October 14, about quarter-hour earlier than a night finding out session was as a result of begin within the classroom, based on police.
Hu disappeared someplace between the dormitory and the instructing constructing, in an space that was not coated by safety cameras, state media reported.
Hu’s household was notified by the school of Hu’s disappearance about six hours later, the household stated in a missing individual discover. Hu left his good watch and money within the dorm, carrying with him solely a digital voice recorder and a school card used to pay for meals on campus, based on the discover.
Hu’s dad and mom couldn’t be reached by cellphone on Monday.
As the investigations and searches did not result in any progress, baseless hypothesis swirled on-line, underscoring the deep-rooted public distrust in native authorities.
In response, police launched a detailed assertion on January 7 making clear they’d found no proof that Hu was murdered, or had been concerned in an accident contained in the school. Hu probably left campus on his personal, the police stated.
The assertion additionally detailed in depth police search efforts, overlaying almost 40 hectares of woodland close to the school, 200 kilometers of river, 22 kilometers of rail tracks, and 72 ponds and three reservoirs.
The search continued after January 7, involving hundreds of folks, together with native residents who volunteered to affix, state media reported on the time.
On Sunday, the web site of People’s Daily, the flagship Communist Party mouthpiece, printed an opinion piece calling for native authorities to deal with public considerations, together with why they’d failed to seek out Hu’s physique in additional than 100 days.
It additionally referred to as for the general public to stay affected person for the official outcomes.
“The Hu Xinyu incident has attracted the attention of the whole country. No one dares to fake anything, and no one can fake it,” the article stated. “If there is any mistake, the consequences will be disastrous.”