A Jeju police officer was arrested today for deliberately shutting down missing-person cases — not one or two, but roughly 298 of them. He told families their loved ones were safe, then quietly deleted the cases from the missing-persons system. The case cracked open because of Jang Mi-ran's disappearance, which turned out to expose a far larger cover-up. Jang Mi-ran, 37, went missing on May 12. Her boyfriend reported it, and the officer assigned to the case told him he'd reached her, that she was safe, and that she didn't want her location shared — then closed the file that same night. It later emerged there was no record police had ever actually contacted her. Once the officer was identified and implicated, investigators went back through his past cases. Between August 22 and 24, they found four bodies of people who had been reported missing — Jang Mi-ran among them, found 104 days after she disappeared, just a few minutes' walk from where she'd been staying. The other three were men, two in their 60s and one in his 70s. Since prosecutors' authority to conduct supplementary investigation was abolished, public anxiety has been mounting over how a single officer could kill hundreds of cases with almost no way for anyone to catch it. Video: the family, enraged, confronts the officer. (Chanel A News)

A massive mudslide started in Nepal and crossed into Gyirong Port in Tibet causing major casualties and missing persons at the port. Chinese media reports President Xi Jinping issued instructions for all-out search and rescue efforts. Nepal reported at least 8–17 deaths plus widespread destruction of villages, roads, bridges, and hydropower sites. The death toll is expected to rise.

Jeju island mystery deaths plot thickens 4 corpses found in 3 days police under scrutiny for closing missing persons cases without proper investigations S. Korean president forced to issue a statement image credit: @NewsHanguk

There's a safety alert in Jeju Island, South Korea. 15 people are confirmed missing with 4 bodies found so far, the South Korean police is receiving a lot of backlash for their mishandling of the latest case. Theories are pointing to a possible Serial Killer in the area. Someone mapped out cases of missing persons on the island. a Local claims that they're receiving a missing person alert every week.

Chinese FM Wang Yi held a phone conversation with Latvian FM Baiba Braže. Wang said that a sudden ice-rock avalanche on the Nepalese side triggered mudslides, resulting in significant casualties and missing persons in Gyirong County in China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. Latvia is the European country with the highest number of missing persons in this incident. China will do its utmost to continue the search and rescue for missing people from Latvia and other countries and properly handle follow-up matters. Braže thanked the Chinese side for its briefing and search and rescue efforts, as well as for its sincere condolences to the families of the missing. 🔗

A faster response starts with better information. @SecKennedy: “Our goal is in autism specific [AMBER-style] alert capability that gets critical information to authorities and the public quickly and helps bring missing persons home safely.

🇮🇷🇶🇦 Iran says Qatar has held three of its pilots since March, and Doha says it never had them -General Seyed Mohammad Bagherzadeh, who runs Iran's missing persons search committee, wrote to the International Committee of the Red Cross naming Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian as prisoners taken on March 2 -He says their Su-24 bombers were hit by enemy defenses days into the war, that all three ejected and survived, and that a fourth pilot named Majid Kazemi died -He asked the Red Cross to meet the men and push for their release, claiming Qatar has blocked any contact with their families -Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari categorically denied it, saying Doha is "surprised by these misleading statements at this particular time" given ongoing efforts to lower regional tensions -Qatar announced in early March that its Air Force had downed two Iranian Su-24 bombers, and al Ansari says contact was established with the pilots after they violated Qatari airspace, with defensive measures taken once repeated attempts to reach them went unanswered -Qatari search and rescue teams looked for remains, recovered one pilot and handed him back to Iran -Doha also invited an Iranian team in APRIL to be briefed on the search and rescue operation, and says Tehran has still not responded -Until this letter, Iranian authorities had said the fate of the three men was simply unknown The detail worth chewing on is that unanswered invitation. Qatar offered Iran a walkthrough of the search four months ago, and nobody came, which sits oddly beside a government now telling the Red Cross its men are being held in Qatari custody... Source: NYT / Writer: Daniel