A resourceful lost Chinese girl has been praised on social media after figuring out how to call for help without using a mobile phone or asking strangers on the street.
On July 30, an 8-year-old girl living in Quzhou city, Zhejiang province in southeastern China, became separated from her grandfather on the way home from dance class.
Unable to contact her family, the girl became anxious.
However, she noticed an ATM nearby and pressed a red button on the side of the machine, which connected her to the bank's monitoring center.
Zhou Dongying, an employee of Quzhou Rural Commercial Bank, answered the girl's call through the intercom system.
“Do you know your grandpa's phone number?” Zhou asked, but the girl didn't know, and the rest of the family couldn't remember it either.
As soon as the girl pressed a special button next to the ATM, the police came to her aid. Photo: QQ.com
Zhou called the police and continued to comfort the girl while instructing her to stay where she was.
“Stay here and don't move. The police are here,” Zhou assured her.
Officers from Kaihua County Public Security Bureau Police Station arrived soon after and the girl was reunited with her grandfather, who had been searching for her.
According to Tide News, many ATM stations in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, have two types of emergency assistance buttons installed next to the machines: a red “emergency call” button and a red “emergency alert” button.
The bank said the emergency call button would allow direct communication with the bank's monitoring centre.
The alarm button, on the other hand, is designed to immediately alert the police if an emergency occurs at the ATM.
This was the first time Zhou had encountered such a situation during his time at work, but the method has been used effectively in other cases.
The little girl became separated from her grandfather on a crowded street. Photo: Shutterstock
For example, in February 2021, a five-year-old boy in central China's Hubei province became separated from his mother in a supermarket but was eventually reunited with his family using an ATM's panic button.
People on the internet praised the girl for her quick thinking and expressed amazement at her innovative use of the ATM.
“She's really smart,” one person said.
“I never knew an ATM could be used like this. Thanks to the clever girl and kind staff,” said another.
“I feel like I'm not as smart as my kids. Learned a new emergency skill today,” a third person wrote.
