Authorities are searching for German professor Ralf Klausnitzer. He was reported missing to Hualien police on April 2, one day before a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the county. Friends and family say he has been unreachable since March 29. Multiple agencies have joined forces to find him, but ongoing aftershocks have complicated search efforts.

Wearing shorts and a black shirt, German professor Ralf Klausnitzer was seen waiting his turn to board a bus to Taroko National Park. He was later caught on a security camera at a Hualien temple. His last known location was Zhihui Bridge in Xiulin Township, Hualien.

Chen Shao-hua
Hualien Police Bureau’s Xincheng Precinct
On the morning of March 26, he boarded the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle service to Tianxiang in Taroko National Park. There has been no sign of him since. This foreign national was not among those reported missing after the April 3 earthquake.

Klausnitzer is a professor of German studies at Humboldt University of Berlin. He was invited to lecture at Tamkang University in Taipei, and traveled to Hualien on March 25. Friends and family have been unable to reach him since March 29. Fearing for his safety, his family in Germany reported him missing to Hualien police on April 2. Until the morning of the April 3 earthquake, location data from Klausnitzer’s cell phone showed that he was in the Tianxiang area. When the earthquake hit, telecommunications went down in the mountains, and his location data disappeared.

Chen Shao-hua
Hualien Police Bureau’s Xincheng Precinct
We have coordinated a joint search by the park administration, the ninth brigade of the Seventh Special Police Corps, the Taroko public works unit, Hualien County’s fire department, and ourselves, but so far, we have not been able to locate him.

The joint search effort is ongoing. Klausnitzer’s friends and family have turned to Facebook, hoping that internet users can help locate their loved one.

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