23-year-old university student Liu, from a certain college in Chengdu, was confirmed to have tragically passed away after being missing for several days. Countless netizens expressed grief and at the same time, sparked in-depth discussions on life safety, psychological care, and social protection.
On December 14th at 16:29, Hu reported his nephew Liu (male, 23 years old, from Qionglai, Sichuan, a student at a certain college in Chengdu) missing since leaving school on December 11th, 2025.
On December 23rd, Jímù News reported that the missing university student Liu was confirmed to have tragically passed away on December 11th, with initial assessments ruling out criminal involvement, according to the Qionglai police in Chengdu.
The Qionglai police stated that based on forensic examinations and comprehensive investigations, the body exhibited signs consistent with death by drowning, with the time of death preliminarily determined from late on December 11th to the early hours of December 12th. The family accepted this conclusion and is currently handling the necessary follow-up procedures.
Earlier, local authorities had reported that on December 11th around 9 pm, Liu was seen riding an electric bike alone in the Yang’an Street area of Qionglai City and subsequently disappeared after walking towards the South River area of Gulu Street in Fenglin Village at around 9:54 pm.
After the news spread, netizens shared missing person notices on social media platforms, silently praying for Liu’s safe return. However, on December 20th, a search team discovered a body near the South River area where Liu had disappeared, which was confirmed by the family to be Liu.
Following the exposure of Liu’s drowning incident, discussions on social media platforms quickly intensified.
Some netizens commented, “23 is probably the best age in life, but behind that lies the high probability of unbearable pressure, whether it be academic, career-related, or emotional problems. The psychological defenses of young people are sometimes more fragile than we imagine and need to be seen by more people.” Others raised questions about the scenario of drowning in winter, with a netizen stating, “December temperatures in Chengdu are very low, so it is indeed puzzling to go to the river alone late at night. Even though the police have ruled out foul play, we still want to know whether he entered the water voluntarily or accidentally slipped. Hopefully, there will be a more detailed investigation result.”
Many netizens shifted their focus to water safety and social protection measures. Combining recent similar incidents, a netizen analyzed, “This is not the first case of a university student drowning in water. Previously, there was the case of a female college student in Chengdu drowning in Tuojiang after cheating, and a female student in Yibin disappearing from a bridge. These incidents all point to safety hazards in undeveloped water areas, with many rivers and bridges lacking sufficient warning signs and barriers, and surveillance having blind spots. There is a real need to strengthen supervision.”
Furthermore, some netizens urged, “We hope that relevant departments will install guardrails, water level monitoring equipment, high-definition surveillance cameras at key water points, and also add prominent warning signs to reduce the possibility of accidents occurring from a hardware perspective.”
In discussions on university mental intervention mechanisms, a netizen expressed, “The fact that Liu’s family only reported him missing 3 days later reflects a potential loophole in the school’s tracking of student dynamics. If schools could promptly identify student absences, abnormal emotions, and communicate with families in a timely manner, perhaps tragedies could be prevented. Universities should not only focus on academics; psychological counseling and warning mechanisms must be implemented in practice.”