China
10:32, 04-Aug-2018
Missing 12-year-old Chinese girl found safe in New York
Updated
09:46, 07-Aug-2018
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The 12-year-old Chinese girl who was reported missing from an airport near Washington was found safe with her parents in New York City on Friday, authorities said.
On Twitter, Ronald Reagan National Airport shared the good news from a statement by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that expressed gratitude for the help from the public. According to the statement, the FBI is now investigating the incident.
Screenshot of statement on Twitter.
Screenshot of statement on Twitter.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children also tweeted the news.
The girl named Ma Jinjing had been last seen about 8:15 a.m. on Thursday. According to police, she was suspected of being abducted from a tour group at the airport. The police appealed for clues to locate her and released airport surveillance footage of her before she went missing.
The video showed her talking and leaving "without force" with an unidentified Asian woman, who also assisted in a change of clothes. They soon disappeared from the camera at the “Arrival” exit in a car with a male driver. The woman was also believed to have been spotted talking with the girl during a trip to the World Trade Center in New York City days before.
Photo via the Paper.
Photo via the Paper.
Her unexplained disappearance triggered an amber alert, a child abduction alert system originating in the United States in 1996 through which information was distributed nationwide.
According to earlier reports, the girl’s tour group from China was scheduled to leave the country on the same day she went missing. Ma Jinjing is said to have asked to go for the restroom but separated herself from the group without doing so just before members went through the airport's security check-in.