RAWALPINDI: A Chinese engineer went missing on Wednesday
while working on a tunnel linked to a river for the Karot power project
in Kahuta.
Police, intelligence officials and special
protection unit (SPU) personnel have launched a search operation in and
around the camp where the workers live to find 36-year-old Pingzhi Liu,
who is suspected to have been swept away by the river.
However, the police did not rule out the possibility of kidnapping as his mobile phone was switched off.
Police
said Mr Pingzhi — who had been associated with the Karot power project
since he arrived in Islamabad last year — was last seen by his
co-workers walking out of a tunnel at around 3.30am while talking to
someone on his phone.
Apart from Mr Pingzhi, five divers
were also working on the tunnel site when he went missing. The police
grilled the divers but found no clue leading to the missing Chinese
national till the filing of this report.
Pingzhi Liu —
with his passport number E4-3464795 — had arrived at Benazir Bhutto
International Airport in Islamabad from Beijing on Feb 13, 2016 and
travelled back to Beijing on Dec 11. He had returned to Islamabad on
March 27 this year.
After his disappearance, the
immigration authorities at Benazir Bhutto International Airport were
alerted and according to their immigration record, the Chinese engineer
has not left the country so far.
Senior Superintendent
of Police SPU Syed Ali Mohsin told Dawn that besides the local police,
the SPU was also involved in the search which was being expanded to the
river side.
The security personnel, he said, have asked
the locals to immediately contact the police if they had seen Mr
Pingzhi. However, no one had come forward to help the police trace the
Chinese expert’s whereabouts.
“Our concern for his
safety is growing. We want to know he is safe,” the SSP said, adding
that Mr Pingzhi was working on the tunnel linked to the river when he
went missing in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
“The
possibility of kidnapping or accident can’t be ruled out. However,
scope of the search operation has been widened to the river and
surrounding areas,” SSP Mohsin said.
He said that more
than 300 Chinese were working on the power project and had been issued
an advisory to follow standard operating procedure regarding security at
their workplace and residence.