Smartphone app used to find 260 missing children in China

A mobile app has helped Chinese authorities to trace over 250 missing children during the last six months, the government said today.

"Tuanyuan" or reunion, the mobile app was launched by Ministry of Public Security (MPS) in May 2015, where police release information on missing children.

Over the past six months, more than 280 updates on missing children have been posted on the app and 260 children have been found, including 18 who had been trafficked, 27 reported lost, 152 who had run away from home, as well as 52 who had died from drowning or other reasons, MPS said.

The app helps to ensure efficient information sharing and collaboration between police in different regions, and encourages witnesses to report the whereabouts of missing or trafficked children, it said.

A new version of the app was launched today, which will expand its reach through cooperation with other popular mobile app, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Missing children is a major problem in China as children are stolen by traffickers to sell them for adoption to childless couples are use them for begging and other crimes.