Abandoned toddler sparks police hunt in three countries

Police in three countries are hunting for the parents of a little girl in a red jacket nicknamed “Pumpkin”...

Police in three countries are hunting for the parents of a little girl in a red jacket nicknamed “Pumpkin” after she was abandoned at an Australian railway station.

Staff at the main country railway station in the southern city of Melbourne found three-year-old New Zealand toddler Qian Xun Xue crying and alone on Saturday.

Security images showed Xue being led by a man police believe was her father, Nai Zin Xue, who left the station without his daughter to catch a flight to the United States.

Story continues below this ad

“The girl remains calm and composed. Sometimes she spikes in emotions when she wakes up and mum’s not there but the carers settle her back into a routine,” Victorian state police inspector Brad Shallies told Australian television on Tuesday. The girl is being looked after by a foster family in Victoria.

The case attracted blanket media coverage in Australia and New Zealand as authorities attempted to identify the toddler, who was dubbed “Pumpkin” after the Pumpkin Patch brand of clothing she was wearing when she was found.

Police later identified the girl and her father, a 54-year-old magazine publisher who had moved to New Zealand from China about 10 years ago. The pair had arrived in Australia last Thursday on a flight from Auckland. It was not immediately known how police identified the girl and her father.

Australian police were working with police in New Zealand and the US to try to find her parents.

Story continues below this ad

Police in Auckland said they had looked unsuccessfully for the child’s mother, Anan Liu, known as Annie, for the past three days and were now gravely concerned about her safety.