A MAN who lives in the neighboring city of Kunshan thanked Shanghai police after a recent incident involving his mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease.

His mother, 70, went missing from a train station in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province,on June 17, and was found at Shanghai Railway Station the next morning.

Shanghai police were very helpful during the hectic day, said the man surnamed Leng.

At noon on June 17, Leng’s father was taking his mother to a train bound for Shanghai to see a doctor, but while he was talking to staff at a service window his wife disappeared.

Leng said his mother had only her identity card, medical record booklet, a little cash but no mobile phone.

After reporting the disappearance to the railway police, the family was told she had boarded a train to Shanghai Railway Station with her identity card.

Leng’s family members soon traveled to Shanghai to look for her.

At Shanghai Railway Station Metro Station, police officers immediately offered their assistance.

“They had to check the footage of over 100 surveillance cameras, and walked up and down the station to reconstruct the possible routes my mother could have taken,” Leng said.

Finally, at 8pm on the same day, the officers spotted the woman via surveillance footage buying a ticket from a vending machine at the Metro station, and Leng thought he had properly identified her among a crowd of passengers getting onto a Metro Line 1 train leaving for Fujin Road.

The family scattered and continued looking for her at other stations, where police offered help, Leng said.

About two hours later, at Shanghai Circus World station — three stations from Shanghai Railway Station — the woman was spotted on a surveillance camera getting out of a train at the station.

The family then sought help from police officers at Daning Road Station, who helped track the woman through surveillance cameras on the street. However, they lost her again after the first intersection.

Leng said the entire family spent a sleepless night combing through the area around Shanghai Circus World without any luck.

Just as Leng was staring into surveillance footage again at the Circus World Metro Station, his wife called him saying staff at Shanghai Railway Station had found his mother checking into the station at 6:20am.

Leng and the family reunited with his mother at 8am on June 18.

“Had it not been for the concern and help of the Shanghai police, the worst day of my life would have been even worse,” Leng said.

“My heart was wrenched by my mother’s disappearance, but also warmed by the helpful people I met in Shanghai.”