Hualien authorities continue search for missing German professor

Taipei, May 7 (CNA) Authorities in Hualien County on Tuesday released photos and prepared to launch a new search for German academic Ralf Klausnitzer, who went missing in Taroko National Park just days before the region was struck by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake.

The Hualien Police Bureau's Xincheng Precinct said Klausnitzer spent the night of March 25 in a Hualien City hotel, before setting off around 9 a.m. the following day for the park's Tianxiang Recreation Area.

He was reported missing to police on April 2, just one day before a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Hualien region, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 1,100.

Location data from Klausnitzer's cell phone showed that the phone was in the Tianxiang area from March 26 until the morning of April 3, when the earthquake hit and the signal was lost, the police said.

After Klausnitzer was reported missing, the precinct said, police contacted area hotels and also searched a number of popular hiking trails, cabins and tourist sites in the park on April 15, 17, 29, 30 and May 7, but found no sign of him.

Hualien's police and fire departments are now planning to launch a new joint search in the area, the precinct said.

According to a social media post by a friend, Klausnitzer, in his 50s, came to Taiwan in March to lecture at New Taipei's Tamkang University, and had planned to take a trip to Hualien before returning home.

He is know to have taken the No. 302 bus to Taroko National Park on March 26, and friends were unable to contact him from March 29, the post said.

Anyone with information on Klausnitzer's whereabouts is asked to contact the Xincheng Precinct or call the National Police Agency's emergency number at 110.