Two sixth graders in Taiwan’s northeastern county of Yilan wandered about after school on Monday and spent a cold night under a bridge after they got into trouble at school 

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/09
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Two sixth graders in Taiwan’s northeastern county of Yilan

wandered about after school on Monday and spent a cold night under a bridge after they got into trouble at school and were afraid of possible consequences stemming from the trouble, while dozens of villages were searching for them.

The two schoolboys were reportedly piqued by their teacher’s punishment, so they stealthily threw cleaning tools from their classroom on the third floor of a school building and damaged the rain shelter on the first floor. The teacher reportedly brought up the students’ responsibility to pay for the damage to the rain shelter they had caused and notified their parents of what happened. The two boys decided to stay outside after school as they were afraid of being scolded if they went home.

The boys’ parents panicked after finding their children missing and hurriedly posted messages about the missing children and their photos on Facebook, imploring the public to help find their boys, according to media reports. The post was immediately shared by many people, and local vigilantes voluntarily joined in the search effort.

Local vigilante deputy captain Chang Cheng-ding (張正定) told reporters Tuesday that dozens of people were mobilized through the social networks. They were divided into several groups and searched everywhere, including every temple, convenience store, or factory in the village where they could be staying for the night. However, no trace of them could be found as of 11 p.m. on Monday night.