China Confirms 5 Missing Arunachal Pradesh Youths 'Have Been Found on Chinese Side'; Procedure to Bring Them Back to India Underway

Itanagar, September 8: China on Tuesday responded to a hotline message by the Indian Army over missing five youths from Arunachal Pradesh. People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China confirmed that the missing youths from Arunachal Pradesh had been found by their side. Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the procedure to bring these missing youth back from the Chinse side is underway. Kiren Rijiju Reacts to Abduction of 5 Arunachal Youths by China's PLA, Says 'Response to Indian Army's Hotline Message Awaited'.

Rijiju tweeted, "China's PLA has responded to the hotline message sent by Indian Army. They have confirmed that the missing youths from Arunachal Pradesh have been found by their side. Further modalities to handover the persons to our authority is being worked out."

Tweet by Kiren Rijiju: 

It was earlier reported that the youth, belonging to Upper Subansiri district of the state, were allegedly abducted by PLA. The news of abduction drew nationwide attention on Saturday after Congress MLA Ninong Ering's SOS on social media. The development came amid heightened tensions between India and China as forces of both the nations have been locked in a faceoff in Ladakh since May this year.

The five abducted youths were subsequently identified by the local media as Toch Singkam, Prasat Ringling, Dongtu Ebiya, Tanu Baker and Ngaru Diri. They are members of the Tagin community. Meanwhile on Monday, China had  claimed that it was 'not aware' of any communication specific to the case of five Indians abducted from the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 08, 2020 05:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).