Man flew to China to meet online lover who never arrived

Alexander Cirk flew all the way to Changsha to meet his online girlfriend for the first time. Photo / Hunan Economic TV

This story from the Herald archive originally appeared in August 2016.

A man was been taken to hospital with exhaustion after waiting for 10 days in an airport in China for a girl who never showed up.

Dutchman Alexander Pieter Cirk, 41, flew to Changsha, China, to meet his girlfriend Zhang for the first time.

26-year-old Zhang failed to show, and Cirk waited for 10 days before he was removed by emergency services and taken to hospital to be treated for exhaustion, The Sun reported.

After pictures of Cirk went viral, Chinese news channel Hunan got in touch with the no-show Zhang.

Zhang had left town to get plastic surgery and hadn't been online to recieve Cirk's notifications that he was in the country.

She explained she had seen Cirk's tickets and thought they were a joke.

Alexander only left the arrivals lounge when he was rushed to hospital to be treated for exhaustion. Photo / Hunan Economic TV

She said she wanted to keep the door open on the relationship as was keen to meet Cirk once she had recovered from her operation.

But heartbroken Cirk had booked a return flight to the Netherlands, and will travel home as soon as he was released from hospital.