A giant rubber duck being exhibited on the Nanming River in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, is missing after it was washed away by floods caused by heavy rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The information office of the Guizhou provincial government released the news on its official Weibo account, China's twitter-like service.

The Rubber Duck sculpture was designed by Dutch designer Florentijn Hofman in 2007 and versions have been on a global tour since.

By May, the sculptures had traveled to 18 cities in 12 nations, including China, Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom, but this is the first duck to go missing while on tour.

The host of the exhibition is offering a reward so people will help search for the missing duck.

A new Rubber Duck will be brought to Guiyang if the missing sculpture cannot be found by the weekend.