Police picked up the elderly man in their patrol car.
A Gansu-native elderly man working in Guiyang, unable to contact his family and penniless, decided to walk home along the highway. On April 1, after walking for 13 days and covering nearly 200 kilometers, he was rescued by highway police.
The man, named Zhao Xiaolong, is 60 years old. It is understood that four years ago, Zhao found work at a timber processing plant in Nanming District, Guiyang, through an introduction by a fellow villager. Two months ago, the plant shut down due to poor management, and the boss disappeared without paying the workers’ wages. With no money, Elder Zhao decided to go home. “I tried to contact my family many times, hoping they could send me some travel money, but the home landline was disconnected and I had no other way to reach them. So I had to walk back…” the elderly man said.
Police officers from the Hangrui Highway Patrol Brigade in Zunyi City told reporters that around 9 a.m. on April 1, officers from the fifth squadron spotted the elderly man, who was wearing a straw hat and tattered clothes, while patrolling the Hangrui Highway in Xiazizhen, Zunyi. At the time, the man said he had been walking on the highway for 13 days.
Elder Zhao said that during those 13 days of walking, whenever he got hungry he would get off the highway, explain his situation to local residents, and ask for food. “They were all very kind to me, willing to offer food and shelter for free,” the elderly man said. In this way, he walked all the way from Guiyang to Xiazizhen over the 13 days. Police said the elderly man had covered approximately 200 kilometers in those 13 days.
After learning about the elderly man’s situation, the police took him to a restaurant in Xiazizhen town for a meal. Based on the family address provided by the elderly man, officers from the Xiazizhen Police Station contacted the local police station and located his children. Upon learning of his father’s situation, the man’s son, Mr. Zhao, said he would immediately set off to pick up his father and bring him home.
Currently, the elderly man has been placed in a nursing home in Xiazizhen town, waiting for his children to arrive.