Last messages from Chinese diplomat's daughter, found dead on Tara: She was located by satellite

21-year-old Chinese student Zhu Xinyue, who disappeared on June 29 in Bajina Basta, western Serbia, was found hanging from a tree on Tuesday afternoon in Krtice, a location in the Tara National Park.

The father of the unfortunate woman, a distinguished historian and a high-ranking Chinese diplomat, found his daughter by satellite, and then forwarded the images to the local rescue service.

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When they arrived at the scene, rescuers and firefighters found Zhu hanging from a tree. Her body was completely desiccated and without any traces of violence, indicating that she had most likely committed suicide. Since the location was inaccessible, on a slope 30 meters below the road, the recovery of the young woman's body took 16 hours - from 8.30 am to midnight.

The body was found some ten kilometers from Lake Perucac; Photo: Wikipedia/Marko.jhb

Signal located

The reasons why the young Chinese woman, who was studying in Spain, might have taken her own life are not yet known, but she is known to have struggled with depression for years. Her parents noticed that something strange was going on when in the last messages and conversations she told them she didn't want to live any longer. Zhu Xinyue disappeared on June 29 this year, when the last signal from her phone was located in the territory of Bajina Basta, to where she came on her own, spending one night in a hotel.

Her disappearance was reported to the authorities by her parents, and from July 15 the daily searches began. One of the rescuers who participated in the search and the retrieval of the body told the daily Informer how this mysterious tragedy unfolded.

The Chinese woman suffered from depression; Photo: MUP Serbia

According to him, she came to Bajina Basta alone and spent one night in a hotel. She last contacted her parents on June 29, and based on  data from mobile base stations, she was located as having been in this town. The search began on July 15 when her parents reported her missing after she failed to return home. The territory of the Tara National Park was searched daily, but as the rescuer put it, "it's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Soon, her parents and the embassy of the People's Republic of China became involved in the search. They came here twice and on one occasion stayed a month. Because her father is an influential man, a historian and a diplomat, and a mother a physician, they also looked for their daughter independently, using satellites," our well-informed source said.

Specially trained rangers participated in the extraction of the body of Zhu Xinyue.

When the satellite imagery and the search produced the exact location of the unfortunate young woman's body, the parents informed the authorities and rangers, and rescuers and firefighters immediately went to the scene.

Photo illustration: Milena Djordjevic

"We found the body in Krtice, a place 9 kilometers above Lake Perucac, on the way to Mt. Tara. A ranger, who is an experienced mountaineer, climbed down and brought the body up. A large number of police officers as well as a prosecutor were present and an autopsy was ordered to confirm the identity and cause of death."

Ivan Ilic, head of the Tara National Park Ranger Service, told Informer that the rescue services worked around the clock until they found her.

"As soon as the police informed us of the disappearance, we started our daily searches. We were constantly on the ground and searched almost all of Tara. Soon the parents of the girl came, wanting to help in the search, to which we agreed. The Chinese who work in the area and have stores here also participated in the search, and they also acted as translators between us and the parents. I won't go into the way the parents conducted additional searches of the terrain, but they provided us with satellite imagery of locations, and we checked them. The location from the last shot they provided us with was the right one, that is, the girl's body was there," explained Ilic.

(Telegraf.rs/Informer)