Yangmei Hiking Group Member Lin Caixi went missing on September 17 in Xibao, Jianshi Township. Over the past two weeks, the county fire department has mobilized search and rescue efforts, with police, firefighters, and civilian rescue teams deploying over 500 personnel, yet there has been no good news. The family remains helpless, while emergency responders are exhausted by the seemingly endless mountain search. The fire department urges the public to carefully consider hiking plans to avoid wasting social resources.
The fire department stated that 68-year-old Lin Caixi and a group of 42 people hiked in the God Tree area of Zone B in Xibao on September 17. Around 3 p.m. during the return trip, he was reported missing by fellow group members, prompting an immediate police search. Firefighters have since deployed personnel to search along the group’s hiking route, but as of now, Lin has not been found.
The fire department said that, in addition to 304 deployments of police and firefighters, other participants included military personnel, the Forestry Bureau, youth mountain rescue teams, family members, relatives, and civilian search groups, totaling 559 personnel. Among them, police and firefighters were deployed in batches—each team spending two days and two nights—but the vast and rugged terrain of Xibao Mountain makes comprehensive search efforts extremely difficult.
So far, the search has yielded no results, but the fire department is not giving up hope and continues to dispatch personnel for the search. However, frontline police and firefighters, facing unlimited search operations and ongoing emergency medical and disaster relief duties after returning from the mountains, jokingly describe their exhausting efforts as “burning out their livers.”
The fire department urges the public that if lost in the mountains, do not run around aimlessly or take shortcuts. Instead, find an open and safe area, pay attention to food, water, and warmth, conserve energy, and stay calm while waiting for rescuers. Also, use mobile phones cautiously—remove the SIM card if necessary, and dial the emergency number 112 to report your location and situation using the limited battery power.