Newlyweds go missing on trip to Shangri-la

A recently married couple from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, have been reported missing nine days after setting out on a road trip to Shangri-la county in neighboring Yunnan province.

They began their trip on Oct 1, the first day of the seven-day National Day holiday, but have not been heard from since Oct 6, when the wife Tu Xi phoned a former classmate.

According to the Chengdu Economic Daily, Tu and her husband Song, both 28, drove an SUV to Shangri-la via Daocheng county in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Sichuan. They planned to return to Chengdu on Oct 7.

"During the first few days, they would call and tell us where they had visited each day. On the morning of Oct 5, Tu Xi was in high spirits and said they were in Yading town in Daocheng and would soon arrive in Shangri-la," said Tu Xinfu, father of Tu Xi.

On Oct 8, students of a yoga club where Tu Xi worked as a teacher questioned why she was not present in classes.

After he lost contact with his daughter, Tu Xinfu contacted the police and reported her missing. Two days later, he and several relatives traveled along the road his daughter had taken to Ganzi. They sought help from local police wherever they went.

Based on the location of Tu Xi's last cell phone signals and the videos she sent of her holiday, police in Ganzi suspected the couple had disappeared near a snow-capped mountain in the Shangri-la area.

Police are now searching the area, but they face a tough job. The mountain they are searching covers a vast area, and includes a cliff more than 100 meters high, from which they fear the couple may have fallen.

Lan Yong, a police officer in Ganzi, told Chengdu Economic Daily: "We have prepared ropes and will go down the cliff to search for the couple if conditions permit."

Relatives of the couple describe them as experienced travelers, but say it seems likely they fell from the cliff.