A woman surnamed Peng from Taipei City and her friends were hiking Qilai Main Peak when she accidentally fell off a cliff. After days of search efforts by firefighters, her body was found today and is being prepared for transport down the mountain.
On the 27th of last month, the female hiker fell off a cliff on Qilai Mountain within Taroko National Park. A rescue team of over 20 members, formed by the Hualien County Fire Bureau and other agencies, ascended the mountain to conduct the search. Although they discovered items such as a backpack and clothing, the search for the hiker could not proceed below the cliff face due to deep snow accumulation and poor mountain weather conditions.
Chen Qiuming, captain of the Hualien branch of the Fire Bureau who participated in the rescue mission, said that the trail to Qilai Main Peak was covered in snow, making progress difficult, and the cliff terrain was extremely steep. At night, temperatures dropped to just 0°C, and during the day only reached around 4°C. Success Fort experienced heavy rainfall, with occasional hail, and visibility was reduced to about 10 meters. Team members attempted to advance from Success Fort toward the Qilai Mountain Hut.
Chen Hsinyang, Director of the Hualien County Fire Bureau, along with others, set out at 3:00 a.m. this morning to visit the Hohuan Mountain Xiaofengkou area and the Success Fort Mountain Hut to boost rescue morale. News came in the morning that the body of the woman surnamed Peng had been found. 1030304
(CNA)