Several young women had been reported missing after they went to find a job at a recruitment agency in Buji Township in Longgang District, the Daily Sunshine said Monday.

The paper quoted Zhang Junming, a 43-year-old man, saying his 19-year-old daughter had been missing for almost five months. He last saw his daughter at the Senxinyuan Employment Agency.

According to Zhang, the last words his daughter said were: "Dad, I will go to the factory with them." The girl, Zhang Ting, was leaving the agency with a man and a woman on the morning of May 26.

Zhang tried to call his daughter's mobile phone 40 minutes later but the phone was turned off. Zhang Ting had been missing since then, the paper said.

Police and Zhang visited Senxinyuan in the evening of May 26 but its executives said it was difficult to find out which company was responsible because more than 20 companies were recruiting new workers that day.

On Sept. 29, the newspaper reported that several young women had disappeared after telling their families that they were going to the recruitment agency. It was not certain whether they went missing at the agency or after they left.

Two 20-year-old women, surnamed Wu and Nie, were reported missing after they tried to find a job at Senxinyuan on Sept. 8 and 16.

The agency said it did not register the identity of jobseekers but checked all necessary documents of recruiters. Jobseekers had to buy an entrance ticket for 10 yuan (US$1.2).

After the Sept. 29 report, Senxinyuan said it had installed video cameras.

Police are investigating and have not ruled out a link between the disappearances.

(Shenzhen Daily October 21, 2003)