Recently, various regions across mainland China have been hit by successive cold waves, with temperatures plummeting to extreme lows. The Banshanting Police Station of the Nanyue Branch of Hengyang City Public Security Bureau in Hunan Province recently received a distress call from a tourist who reported being lost in the deep mountains of Nanyue Hengshan and begged for police assistance. After a four-hour search, officers found the lost hiker in a remote corner of the mountains above Guangji Temple on Nanyue Hengshan. In the -9°C cold, the stranded climber was frozen like an “ice sculpture.” Officers immediately took off their own gloves and handed them to him to keep warm, gave him a sip of hot water, and after he had warmed up, escorted him back to safety.
According to The Paper, the Banshanting Police Station of the Nanyue Branch of Hengyang City Public Security Bureau in Hunan Province received a distress call from a tourist who reported being lost in the deep mountains of Nanyue Hengshan and begged for help. After receiving the call, the on-duty police immediately contacted the lost hiker and used WeChat location sharing to pinpoint his whereabouts. At that time, the tourist was over 7 kilometers away from the police station. The station’s director and two other officers, equipped with flashlights, straw shoes, dry rations, and water, braved heavy snow and trekked into the mountains to conduct the search and rescue.
It is understood that at the time, nighttime temperatures in the central scenic area had dropped to around -9°C, and all paths within the scenic zone were covered in ice, making progress extremely difficult. Rescue personnel had to move forward with extreme caution, as even a small misstep could lead to slipping off a cliff, being cut by sharp icicles, or being struck by falling chunks of ice accumulated on tree branches.
After more than four hours of trekking, at around 11 p.m., rescuers finally found the lost tourist in a remote corner above Guangji Temple. By then, the man was frozen as if he were a statue of ice, standing next to an old tree covered in icicles.
It was later learned that the tourist, a man surnamed Tang, had come alone to the Nanyue scenic area to enjoy the snow. While descending, despite warnings from local residents, he insisted on taking a shortcut down via the direction of Guangji Temple. When he got lost in the mountains, he called for help. Upon seeing the rescue officers arrive, covered in snow and ice, he was too frozen to speak and could only tightly grasp the officers’ hands to express his gratitude.