Two Chinese tourists go missing

Authorities are on the lookout for two Chinese male tourists who apparently remain on island illegally.

In an interview yesterday, Century Tours manager Henry Pun disclosed that 48-year-old Yang Wei and 43-year-old Tang Wenliang were scheduled to leave the Commonwealth on Jan. 29 but have yet to do so. Both are from Liaoning, China.

Pun said local authorities such as the Immigration Division and the Department of Public Safety have been informed of the situation.

Pun said fliers containing the photos of the two individuals as well as notices soliciting assistance in finding the two have been distributed and are now posted around the island.

A reward of $500 will be paid out for information leading to the location of each individual.

Pun said the agency is also soliciting the assistance of the local Chinese community.

He also warned that people harboring the two tourists will also be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Both tourists arrived on Jan. 26 aboard China Eastern Airlines from Shanghai but were not seen by the tour guide, who was supposed to transport all arriving passengers from the airport to their respective hotels.

“So, we assumed they probably have friends here who picked them up and will bring them to the hotel,” Pun said. “[When] we arrived at the hotel and checked on all our guests, we found out that they didn’t even check into the hotel.”

The agency then got in contact with the Tinian Dynasty to determine whether the two had flown there but they were not able to locate them.

Pun said the agency then waited until the scheduled departure date to see if the two would board their flight back to Shanghai.

“After the flight left, we found out they were not on it,” Pun said.

The agency then contacted Immigration to determine whether the two boarded another flight but were told that they did not.

Pun said that several Chinese individuals are helping locate the two, and will visit various farms, factories, and other possible hiding places.

“I am optimistic that we’re going to find them. They’ll look for their own group, so all we need to do is look for the people from their province,” he said.

Pun explained that he did not understand why the two would not return, citing that each needed to pay their tour agent a security deposit of $4,000 to ensure their return. The tour agent has already been contacted, and in turn, contacted the family of the two individuals.

Backgrounds of the two individuals are expected from the agency’s Shanghai office today.

The incident is the first of its kind experienced by the agency since it began bringing Chinese tourists in July last year.

“We don’t often have these kind of case,” Pun said. “Sometimes it’s hard to prevent this kind of thing from happening, but if it does happen, we would do our best to locate them and send them back.”

Pun said the agency has to pay a bond for each passenger but Immigration has given them 30-60 days to locate the individuals. He was not clear as to how much the bond costs.