SHANGHAI — A Chinese woman trapped in a locked room for 30 hours was finally rescued after she flung a pillow bearing a message written in her own blood out of a window, according to a local government statement.
The woman, only identified by her surname Zhou, was cleaning a guesthouse in western China’s Sichuan province when she entered a bedroom without her phone, according to an article published by a local government social media account earlier this month.
What followed was one and a half days of desperation, after Zhou realized that the door could not be opened from the inside due to a malfunctioning lock.
She had no access to food and there was no toilet in the room, which was on the sixth floor of the building.
“After many failed attempts to save herself, and out of desperation, she bit her finger and used the blood to write ‘110 625’ on a pillow which she then threw out the window,” the social media account owned by the local government in Sichuan’s Leshan city said.
The number of the room the woman was trapped in was 625, and 110 is the emergency services phone number in China.
Zhou’s message was spotted by food delivery driver Zhang Kun, who immediately called the police.
“I was pretty scared, but when I saw the number ‘110’ on the pillow, I realized this might be a distress call,” Zhang said in the local government statement.
Videos published by local media showed a disheveled-looking Zhou thanking police officers after they kicked open the door to her temporary prison.
“I went in there yesterday morning and it’s been one day and one night,” Zhou can be heard saying in the video.
Good Samaritan Zhang was awarded 3,000 yuan ($419) by authorities in Leshan for his role in the rescue.