Eighteen people in Xinyang, Henan province, have been punished in connection with the death of a missing boy, whose bruised and battered body caused an uproar online.

The punishments were announced by the local government on Monday - International Children's Day.

Wang Zhiqiang, 13, went missing on Oct 2. He was found by police the next day, but his father was not told of his whereabouts until six months later, when the boy was lying in a mortuary.

Li Ming, who headed the Xinyang rescue station, was dismissed for dereliction of duty because the station didn't collect Wang's fingerprints, arrange for treatment or carry out a search according to regulations.

An investigation found that the boy had been sent to the rescue station the day after police officers found him, but he could not provide his name, age or address, police said.

The father, Wang Xinhong, 37, said he wondered if his son had been starved or beaten to death when he saw the body, which was unusually thin and covered in scars.

He said that after the boy went missing members of the family feared he may have been involved in a child-trafficking case. They reported his disappearance to police in Shihe district and handed in photographs of the teenager.

"It never occurred to me that he would have been sent to a rescue station.

"We also asked the officers to call the police command center if they received any information, but the only answer from the 110 (police hotline) operator was 'I don't know'."

Deng Qiang, an officer at the Shihe district Public Security Bureau, was given a demerit for not recording information about the case quickly and for not reporting it to higher authorities.

Wang Lei, the 110 operator, was dismissed for dereliction of duty because she did not check information before giving a negative answer.

Another 15 staff members, including three medical workers, were admonished, according to the government.

Results of an autopsy showed the boy died of severe malnutrition and tuberculosis, police said on Thursday.

Wang Xinhong said, "Although the people responsible have been punished, my only son will never be back.

"He may have been abused or fed poorly during the half-year he was missing. If any of those who were punished had done their jobs better, my son would still be with us."

qixin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/02/2015 page4)