Girl taken by couple drowned, police say

Baidu editor sacked after posting about dead girl without father's permission

CAO YIN

An employee of Baidu, China's search engine giant, was fired on Saturday for posting information online in the name of the father of a dead girl without his permission.

On Saturday afternoon, police said they would conduct tests to identify a body found in Xiangshan county, Ningbo, Zhejiang province, believed to be that of Zhang Zixin, a 9-year-old girl who went missing after being taken from her home on July 4 by a couple from Guangdong who committed suicide on July 8.

Before the test results were disclosed, a statement was posted on the Baidu account of Zixin's father, Zhang Jun, saying: "I was just told Zixin has left this world and gone to heaven. We can't be father and daughter anymore in this lifetime, but I hope she can be my daughter in the next life."

The post quickly aroused public attention, with some netizens expressing doubts about whether the father had issued such a statement at that moment and whether the account was registered by Zhang.

Some media later quoted the girl's uncle as saying the post was not written by Zixin's father, who was on his way to Ningbo, where the body was found.

In response to the doubts, Baidu said at around 7 pm on Saturday that the account was authorized by Zhang on July 10 to release information to help find Zixin, and the company was contacting the father to learn more details about the post.

The county's public security bureau officially identified the body as Zixin's at about 9:30 pm.

Baidu later issued another statement, saying one of its editors had contacted Zhang after the body was found, but the editor posted the information on Saturday afternoon without the father's permission.

The earlier information on the account, before the post on Saturday afternoon, was released by editors with Zhang's permission, the statement said.

"The editor's behavior seriously disobeyed our rules and harmed the girl's family and users," the company said in the statement, apologizing to the public. "We have removed the post and fired the editor, and we'll rectify our management."