A 39-year-old male teacher surnamed Zhuang from National Tainan First Senior High School went hiking in Nantou County during the 228 holiday break. After locating Zhuang’s motorcycle, police and firefighters mobilized 86 personnel today to search Dili Village in Xinyi Township but found no trace of him.
Zhuang, who works at National Tainan First Senior High School, took advantage of the 228 holiday to go hiking in the mountainous areas around Shuili Township and Xinyi Township in Nantou County. He was originally scheduled to return home on the evening of February 29, but his family grew anxious after not seeing him return by March 1 and reported him missing to the Nantou police and fire department.
Zhuang drove to Shuili Railway Station and then switched to a motorcycle to venture deep into the mountainous areas of Shuili and Xinyi townships. Late on the night of March 1, police discovered Zhuang’s car, with his mobile phone left inside. Since Zhuang did not inform his family of the exact hiking location, Nantou police and firefighters divided into multiple teams to search the mountainous regions of Shuili and Xinyi townships. However, the combined area of the two townships is about 5.6 times that of Taipei City, making the rescue operation challenging.
After conducting a days-long grid search along mountain trails, police and firefighters found Zhuang’s motorcycle on an industrial road at the back of Dili Village in Xinyi Township at noon, significantly narrowing down the search area. Initial findings showed high-calorie food items such as chocolate biscuits and cola in the motorcycle’s storage compartment. Continuing their advance into the mountains, they discovered a backpack suspected to belong to Zhuang about 300 meters away from the motorcycle at around 2:00 p.m.
Local residents noted that the industrial road leads to the trailhead of Zhumu Mountain, which stands at an altitude of 1,296 meters and is not a popular hiking route. According to information shared by hikers, Zhumu Mountain is considered relatively easy and can be summited in about an hour, offering scenic views and distant sights of Sun Moon Lake. The trail also allows for side trips to Nanshuanglong Mountain and Shuanglong Mountain, though some sections are overgrown with tall weeds and the paths are not clearly marked.
In the afternoon, 86 police and firefighters, along with one search dog, were mobilized. One team proceeded from the location where the motorcycle was found toward the mountain’s summit trigonometric point, while another entered the mountains near a mine near Gugu Mountain. The two teams met at the trigonometric point of Zhumu Mountain at 4:30 p.m., but Zhuang was not found along the way. As darkness fell in the mountains, the rescue team began descending and returned to Dili Village around 6:30 p.m. 1050304
(CNA)