A body believed to be Zhang Zixin, a 9-year-old girl from Hangzhou who disappeared one week ago, was found on Saturday afternoon in the sea off the coast of Xiangshan in Zhejiang Province, a rescue team told Metropolitan Express. According to a rescuer, the body was found by a fisherman. A further identification will be conduct by police.

The girl was last seen in security camera video captured on the evening of July 7 near Songlanshan Beach in Xiangshan, where she was accompanied by a couple that had taken her from her family several days beforehand.

The couple had rented an apartment from the girl's family on July 3. They said she was going to be a flower girl at a wedding in Shanghai and that she would be home by July 7. The girl's father was in contact with the pair until July 7 when they failed to return the girl. Her father contacted the police the following day, and later in the day police discovered the couple had committed suicide by drowning in Xiangshan.

A police source said earlier that Zhang Zixin and the couple arrived in the city of Zhangzhou in Fujian Province on July 4. They stayed for two days before taking a taxi early on the morning of July 6 for Shantou in Guangdong Province.

Zhang Zixin's resident card was found along the Xiangshan coastline by search and rescue staff on July 10.

Authorities had increased the size of the search team looking for Zhang Zixin, and expanded their search area from 3.7 kilometers to 37 kilometers, which they were combing with the help of drones, rescue dogs, and speedboats. Police in Xiangshan also offered a reward of 20,000 yuan (about 2,912 U.S. dollars) for information on her whereabouts.

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