A three-person hiking team from Taichung City was climbing Shouguan Mountain in Ren'ai Township when one of the hikers, surnamed Yang, fell and injured his waist. He sought help late on the night of the 5th but was unable to provide an exact location. Police and firefighters from Nantou County were dispatched for the rescue, but the inability of the hiker to clearly indicate their position increased the difficulty of the search. Today, police, firefighters, and the Forestry Bureau of Nantou County sent personnel again, hoping to locate the hiker as soon as possible.
The Nantou County Fire Bureau explained that the three hikers, all in their 30s, relied on past experience and took a taxi to the trailhead in Nanfeng Village, Ren'ai Township. They did not carry a satellite phone or have any location-tracking apps on their phones, and brought several days’ worth of food before starting their hike. On the 5th, Yang, the team leader, accidentally fell and injured his waist, prompting him to call for help from the fire department. Early the next morning, rescuers went up the mountain, but due to the unclear location, they had to divide into four teams to search different areas.
The fire bureau noted that because the stranded hikers could not provide an exact latitude and longitude of their location, rescuers could only estimate their whereabouts based on the time they entered the mountain and their hiking speed. They were believed to be near Shouguan Mountain at the border between Puli Town and Ren'ai Township.
Late at night, rescue teams from the Ren'ai Branch, Zhongxinbei Branch of the Nantou County Fire Bureau, the Forestry Bureau, and other central Taiwan rescue groups such as the Divine Eagle Team rushed up the mountain for an emergency mission. Together with a four-person team that had been climbing overnight, a second group of 24 people assembled around 7 a.m. today to continue the search, hoping to find the hikers soon and bring back good news.
(China Times)