Horror attack on woman in eastern China is caught on camera, sparking manhunt on social media
- Appeal to social media users for help in finding a man seen viciously beating woman in surveillance video
- Dalian police identify victim, launch special task force to hunt for attacker
Police in Dalian, a city in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning, have identified the victim of a vicious assault which was captured in a surveillance video on Saturday, sparking an online manhunt for the perpetrator.
The woman, aged 29, called police after the attack and was treated in hospital for “soft tissue damage”, according to a statement by Dalian police on Tuesday.
Police said the woman was on her way home when the assault took place in the city’s Ganjingzi district at 1am on June 22. A special task force has been formed to hunt for her attacker.
The statement has triggered online criticism, with many questioning the reported extent of the woman’s injuries, as well as the efficiency of the police probe.
“Soft tissue damage? We all see how bad the attack is from the video, and the woman could not move at all when being dragged away,” one Weibo user commented.
“It’s been three days - what’s going on with your investigation?” another asked.
Cyber police in the southwestern province of Sichuan took the unusual step of appealing for help from China’s online community in identifying the location of the attack, captured in a surveillance video of unknown origin.