A 65-year-old man surnamed Shu from Xindian District, New Taipei City, went hiking on the noon of the 10th wearing only a T-shirt, shorts, and slippers. Suspected to have taken a wrong turn and gotten lost, he was also weakened by exhaustion and ended up trapped in the mountains overnight. Police and firefighters began searching for him at around 4 a.m. on the 11th. At 8 a.m., during a shift change, they found Shu had managed to free himself, sitting exhausted by the mountain path, gasping for breath. Fortunately, he only suffered minor cuts on his hands and feet from wild grass and was otherwise unharmed.
“Please hurry and save my husband!” A woman surnamed Huang rushed into the Shuangcheng Police Station of Xindian Precinct at around 4 a.m. on the 11th, frantically reporting that her husband had gone hiking in the hills behind Jinxui Road at noon on the 10th. He had promised to be back for dinner but hadn’t returned by late night. After searching along his usual hiking route with no luck, she realized the seriousness of the situation and quickly turned to the police for help.
Police informed the Ankang Fire Brigade to join the search at around 4:30 a.m., when the sky was just beginning to lighten. After searching for three and a half hours without finding Shu, they were about to end their shift and coordinate with the local neighborhood chief to check surveillance footage from the Jinxiu Villa community when they suddenly spotted him sitting by the mountainside path, panting heavily, with his hands and feet covered in cuts from wild grass.
Police and firefighters quickly gave him sports drinks and biscuits to eat, while paramedics immediately examined his condition. Fortunately, Shu showed no signs of hypothermia or dehydration, and his hand and foot injuries were not serious. After cleaning his wounds on the spot, they escorted him home to rest, bringing this scare to an end.
Shu told police and firefighters that at noon on the 10th, he had originally been hiking along a familiar service road, but accidentally wandered into a narrow path and got lost. As it grew darker and he started to feel slightly exhausted, he rested under a large tree until dawn before trying to find his way down the mountain. He expressed deep regret for worrying his wife and prompting such a large-scale police and firefighter rescue effort, and said he would not rashly go hiking again in the future.
(China Times)