On the hiking trail at Fuzhou Pingshan Park, people spontaneously joined the rescue effort, with some giving the elderly man heart pills and others draping clothes over him.
At around 9:50 a.m. yesterday, on the hiking trail halfway up Fuzhou’s Pingshan Park, an elderly hiker in his eighties lost his balance and fell down the steps. The moment the man fell, someone jumped up from a nearby chair trying to catch him; others rushed up from below the steps to stop his fall; afterward, someone even draped a sweater over him to keep him warm.
When reporters arrived at the mountainside, they saw an elderly man wearing a gray coat and a dark hat lying on a stretcher while doctors conducted a preliminary examination. After stabilizing the man, the doctors, security personnel, and arriving police officers carried him down the mountain together to be hospitalized for treatment.
Witness Ms. Ying said she had been sitting on a bench resting when “he just fell right in front of me.” Ms. Ying said the fallen man surnamed Deng, 83 years old, lived near Pingshan Park and, like her, often came to hike in the park. “He was just three steps away from flat ground, but instead of stepping down normally, Old Deng tried to jump up to a higher step on the left to reach the flat area directly,” Ms. Ying said. “He had already made it onto the flat ground, but somehow he suddenly lost his balance and fell backward down the stone steps.” “I jumped up from my bench and tried to run over to catch him, but I was too late,” Ms. Ying recalled. Mr. Deng began sliding down the stairs, but fortunately, several young people ran up from below and caught him. “By the time the young people caught Old Deng, he was already lying on a relatively wide platform,” Ms. Ying said. The youths gathered around him, and one young woman even took off her own sweater and draped it over him.
Around 12 p.m. yesterday, reporters arrived at the Armed Police Hospital, where Mr. Deng was lying on a bed in the emergency room. “When I stepped onto the platform, I don’t know why, but I felt dizzy and lost my balance and fell,” Mr. Deng said. “Thankfully, some kind people helped me — someone gave me a heart pill, and someone draped a jacket over me.” “I’m really so grateful to all these kind-hearted people.”
Mr. Deng said he has now undergone a CT scan, with a preliminary diagnosis of mild stroke, and will need further observation. (Reporters Wu Zhen, Tang Xianzeng, and Mao Chaoqing, Hai Xia Metropolis Daily, text/photos)