Hiking group member falls 600 meters down cliff on trail in Zhushan

A hiking accident occurred on the “Zhuilu Old Trail” in Taroko National Park, Hualien. A 53-year-old man surnamed Huang, who was hiking with colleagues from the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Hsinchu at noon, accidentally fell about 600 meters down a cliff while passing through the Zhuilu Grand Cliff. Police and firefighters contacted a rescue helicopter and searched along the Swallow Grotto area via stream tracing, but the man has not yet been found. However, rescuers have not given up hope.

The Hualien County Fire Bureau received a report at 12:42 p.m. on the 16th, stating that 16 hikers from ITRI in Hsinchu were climbing the Zhuilu Old Trail when a 53-year-old man surnamed Huang accidentally fell into a valley at the 3K mark of the trail. Rescue personnel immediately assembled a team of nine firefighters and forest rangers from the Taroko area to form a rescue squad. They set out from Swallow Grotto, traced upstream along the Liwu River Valley, and requested air rescue assistance from an air ambulance helicopter.

According to witnesses, the man is suspected to have accidentally stepped on a rock and fallen off the cliff. The Zhuilu Grand Cliff, which is about 600 meters deep, is narrow, steep, and faces the Foji Cliff across the Liwu River. Helicopter rescue is extremely difficult. Two sorties were launched in the afternoon but returned without success. Stream tracing rescuers need about two hours to reach the estimated accident site. Once night falls, the difficulty of the search operation increases significantly.

Wang, a hiker who has climbed the Zhuilu Old Trail multiple times, said the trail is 765 meters above sea level, and the narrowest part of the cliffside path is only 80 centimeters wide. Currently, only 3.1 kilometers of the trail are open to the public, who can hike in an “east-in, east-out” route—from the Zhuilu Suspension Bridge to the cliff outpost and then back. The 3K point where Huang fell is near the 600-meter-high Zhuilu Grand Cliff, which is bottomless. He admitted, “Unless there’s a miracle.”

(China Times)