Website helps solve almost 3,000 missing child cases

An official online platform has helped solve the disappearances of 2,980 children in the past two years, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

Tuanyuan, named after the Chinese word for reunion, releases information about missing children and was developed for the authorities by e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Since its launch in May 2016, 25 new media platforms and mobile apps including Amap, Tencent QQ and the Baidu have connected with Tuanyuan, allowing people to receive alerts about missing children.

Chen Shiqu, deputy director of the ministry's Criminal Investigation Bureau, said by May 15, the platform had shared information on 3,053 missing children, 48 of whom had been abducted.

Other reasons children were missing included running away from home, becoming lost, and fatal accidents. Some 97.6 percent of the cases posted on Tuanyuan have been solved.

In addition to updating information about children who are missing or found, the platform also releases data about traffickers and identifies false information.

An updated version of Tuanyuan, launched on Thursday, is connected to four more platforms: Xinhua News Agency's app, China Central TV's audio and video app, online food-delivery platform Ele.me, and logistics company Dianwoda.

"Now those four have joined, Tuanyuan will expand its scope and channels for releasing information about abducted children, and more missing children might be found and reunited with their families," Chen said.