A 16-year-old girl made a miraculous escape from a forced underage marriage after her parents sold her to another family, who kidnapped her from her dorm room.

The girl – not named in local media – was dragged from her dormitory in Guangdong Province, South China, by the groom-to-be and his family.

The girl managed to flee from her abductors and seek help at a service station, where she told staff about her ordeal.

They called police after she told them her parents had sold her for CNY 260,000 (GBP 31,400).

To avoid the unwanted marriage, the teen fled from her home in Sichuan Province and found work at a factory in Guangdong, almost 1,000 miles away.

But her arranged husband-to-be – joined by family members – managed to track her down.

They dragged her out of her room, bundled her into a car, and headed back to their hometown.

But the teen refused to give up and fled again at the first chance she got.

Having convinced her kidnappers to make a short pause at a service station along the way, the girl approached staff members and asked them to help her.

Just three days later, the girl’s father and brother came to get her, but they were finally persuaded by local officials to stop forcing her into the marriage.

Although the legal minimum age for marriage in China is 22 for men and 20 for women, it remains unclear whether the abductors or the girl’s family will face consequences.

In some parts of China, particularly in rural areas, arranged and forced marriages for money – referred to as “bride prices” – are still common.