Chinese girl goes missing on her way to Space Camp

[Kemara]

Young Chinese tourist missing from San Francisco; girl was heading to Alabama to attend space camp
By KAREN GAUDETTE
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Authorities searched for a 12-year-old Chinese girl Friday who was reported missing from a youth tour group that had an overnight layover in the Bay Area before heading to a space camp in Alabama.
Yukun Jia flew from Beijing and cleared customs around 2:10 p.m. Thursday. She was reported missing around 5 p.m. by the adult leaders of her group, said police Sgt. Larry Ratti.
After arriving at the airport, the group toured nearby Stanford University. When adults counted heads before the group boarded the bus, they noticed Jia was missing, Ratti said.
It was not immediately clear whether she disappeared at the airport or at Stanford, but tour leaders told police that Jia’s luggage was not loaded onto the bus at the airport. The girl had no known history of running away and no known relatives in the area, Ratti said.
The possibility that the girl is seeking to defect from China hasn’t been ruled out, Ratti said. The girl speaks Mandarin Chinese and very little English, he said.
The California Highway Patrol issued a statewide ‘‘Amber Alert,’’ which helped authorities rescue two missing teenage girls Thursday. Ratti said an alert typically is not issued unless authorities confirm an abduction, but authorities offered to distribute Jia’s description anyway.
‘‘The CHP said if you’ve got that info, why don’t we put it out there,’’ Ratti said.
The group planned to leave Friday to attend the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s space camp in Huntsville, Ala. Center spokesman Al Whitaker said the camp frequently hosts visitors from around the world.

[Boomerang]

Thats not good. Whats with all these child abductions lately?

[Vincent]

That's just not right.

I mean, putting myself in her place (while still being me), I would be much less upset if it was on the way back from camp...but this just isn't right!

Now, that is entriely from the pragmatic viewpoint of, "if something's going to happen, let it happen on the way home from Space Camp, not the way there!" But the fact that something happened period is quite horrible.

[Boomerang]

Well good news. I saw on CNN headline news that the girl was found. I didnt see a story just a headline on the botom of the screen but it said she had been located and was with family on the east coast. thankfully she's ok and wasnt abducted. I wonder if she'll still get to attend space camp.

[orion8]

Apparantly she was trying to defect from China...

[monkeynautt]

There was a Chinese team at camp while I was there and I overheard a counselor say that they had found someone who had gone missing. It must have been the Chinese girl they where talking about.

[Boomerang]

Well welcome back Monkeynautt how was camp?