Sees Police After Nearly 4 Hours and Exclaims "I See Family"
On the evening of January 29, before 7 p.m., Jiuxi Police Station received instructions from the city's 110 Command Center: someone reported being lost on the mountain along the West Lake walking trail (from Beifengding toward Songcheng).
Duty leader Deputy Instructor Jiang Yu quickly organized personnel to search and rescue, taking along officers Yu Qingfeng, Qian Suhang, auxiliary police officer Zhou Jie, and Meijiawu security director Zhu Naihong. They started up the mountain from the Dingjia Mountain entrance. To ensure they could find the caller in time, Jiang Yu requested assistance from Lingyin Police Station and Zhuan Tang Police Station via the 110 Command Center.
Due to slippery roads from the rain and very dim light, the search team fell several times. To maintain contact with the caller, officers advised him to conserve his phone battery, keep communication lines open, and stay put as much as possible to await rescue.
After walking for about three hours, the officers shouted as they walked. At 10:45 p.m., they finally got a response from the caller near Daqing Valley.
The caller, Mr. Liu, was sitting on the walking trail at the Jiuqu Ridge section. When he saw the officers, he ran over frantically, repeatedly saying excitedly, "Family, I’ve finally seen family. If I hadn’t seen you, who knows what might have happened..."
Jiang Yu said this Mr. Liu was quite an interesting guy.
"He’s in his 40s, just over 170 cm tall, dressed quite well, and spoke with refinement. Looked like he came from a decent home—not the type to act on a whim and go hiking on a mountain. I asked him why he went up the mountain alone. He replied in a rather cultured tone that he was from Heilongjiang. For the past five years, he and his father-in-law had made it a habit to hike and climb mountains every New Year. This year, his father-in-law had gone back to the northeast for the holidays, leaving only him, the only man in the house. He felt that even if he was alone, he should still go hiking to mark the occasion. So at 1 p.m. on the 29th, he went up Beifengding alone."
But this time, Mr. Liu walked much farther than usual. He told the instructor that he had gone far because of an encounter while hiking—he met two women in their 30s with a 7-year-old child. The women told him, "We came from Songcheng and walked for over three hours!"
That immediately fired up Mr. Liu’s "competitive spirit": if mere women and a child could walk for over three hours, how could he, a grown man, not manage?
As a result, he walked further and further off the beaten path, seeing no end in sight... A panicked Mr. Liu quickly called his wife: "I think I’m lost on the mountain..."
The Liu family lives in Cuixiu. His wife, a bit flustered, said, "But how can I, a woman, come rescue you? Maybe you should try calling 110?"
At 11:30 p.m., officers brought Mr. Liu back to the police station. His wife arrived by taxi from Cuixiu with their 15-year-old daughter. Upon seeing the officers, she kept calling out, "Family, oh police!" Their daughter looked at her dad and wore a look of utter disbelief. He said he still plans to hike next year but will know when to call it a day.