The police had apprehended Zhang in Tianxiang the day before, but the whereabouts of the girl surnamed Yan remained unknown. Yesterday morning, officers dispatched team members up the mountain, and at around 12 noon, they found Yan, who was in good physical condition, on the 2,600-meter-high Yanhai Forest Trail.
Jin Qingzhi, captain of the Taroko Mountaineering Team who participated in the search and rescue, said that when Yan noticed the police approaching, she tried to flee. It was only after a female team member surnamed Liu approached and asked her questions that she lowered her guard.
Jin Qingzhi revealed that the first thing Yan asked him was, “Did my dad contact you?” She was eager to know what her father had said during their conversation but refused to speak to him directly on the phone.
The teenager, who was hiking for the first time, said she wasn’t scared at all being alone in the deep mountains. There were no black bears in the area, but there were many Formosan serows making noise all night. Although climbing was tough at first, she had gotten used to carrying daily necessities up the mountain in shifts every day.
As for "Bai Lin" Zhang Yongyun, she had not been truthful since her arrest the day before and even falsely reported Yan’s location on the mountain. She only confessed yesterday. She claimed that she went hiking to live in seclusion in the mountains and also said she had extensive hiking experience. When asked if she wasn’t afraid of encountering black bears in the mountains, Zhang replied, “That’s because you have no experience—there are no bears there!”
The mother of the girl surnamed Yan said yesterday, upon learning that her daughter had been found safe, that she was just relieved to know her daughter was physically unharmed, and the whole family could finally rest easy.
The young mother surnamed Yan said calmly upon learning yesterday that her daughter had been safely found, “As long as she’s safe and sound, our family can finally rest easy.”