File photo of the victim Li. (Photo from the web)
China's Didi Chuxing has offered a reward of up to 1 million yuan ($160,000) for information concerning the whereabouts of a driver suspected of killing an air hostess as the woman was using the company's ride-sharing service.
The hostess hitchhiked in Liu Zhenhua's car via Didi's app as she left the airport area to go to the train station in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou on Saturday night. The woman surnamed Li told her colleagues via WeChat soon after she entered the car that the driver said she was beautiful and wanted to kiss her. Li, however, declined her colleagues' advice of getting off.
Li left her hotel at around 11:50 pm after she took a shower and changed her clothes. She was to take a train at 1 am on Sunday to go back home to the Shandong provincial capital of Jinan for a relative's wedding ceremony, according to the news website ThePaper.cn.
Li's family began to contact Didi and the police after they failed to get in touch with the woman on Sunday, and was told the second day that Li's body had been found and there were knife wounds on it.
"We feel deeply sad and guilty that passenger Miss Li has been murdered. Our sincere apology to Miss Li's family. As a ride-sharing platform, we betrayed the trust from our customers. We have an inescapable responsibility for the incident," said Didi in an online statement.
The company also said it has established a special team to cooperate with the police in searching for the suspect.
Didi has made public Liu's name, headshot, ID number and cell phone number, hoping the public will provide clues to the suspect's whereabouts.
A friend also said Li was the only child in her family and the 21-year-old took her job as a hostess for only a short time.
