Firefighters rescue tourists injured in cliff fall at the bottom of the valley
The three tourists fell into the deep Maling River Valley
One seriously injured, two with minor injuries; firefighters in Xingyi launch overnight rescue mission
Three tourists from Hunan fell into a hundred-meter-deep valley in the Maling River Canyon National Scenic Area in Xingyi City and their lives were in danger. Thanks to an overnight life-and-death rescue operation by firefighters in Xingyi, 110 police officers, and medical personnel from the Qiannan Prefecture Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, the three injured were successfully rescued from the bottom of the hundred-meter-deep canyon.
The fate of the tourists who fell off the cliff remains unknown
Authorities launch emergency search and rescue
On the afternoon of the 29th, reporters received information that three tourists from Shaoyang, Hunan, had fallen into the bottom of the canyon after losing their footing on a cliff while attempting to access the scenic area from the top of a mountain in the Maling River Canyon National Scenic Area. Their condition was unknown. Reporters subsequently interviewed the firefighters and scenic area management involved in the rescue.
According to rescue team members, at 18:52 on January 27, the Construction Road Squadron of the Xingyi City Fire Brigade received an emergency call and quickly dispatched an emergency rescue vehicle and seven firefighters to the scene. By 19:15 that evening, the firefighters arrived at the Maling River Scenic Area and immediately contacted the scenic area management. Soon after, an emergency rescue team composed of firefighters, 110 police officers, medical personnel, and scenic area staff launched an all-night life-saving mission. Using the contact number provided by the injured and the familiarity of scenic area personnel with the terrain, the team finally pinpointed the approximate location of the three trapped and injured individuals.
Searching for the injured in bitter cold
Life-and-death rescue in a hundred-meter-deep canyon
The firefighters quickly equipped themselves with multi-functional rescue stretchers, rescue ropes, and fall protection gear, and ran toward the bottom of the canyon. Meanwhile, medical personnel from the 999 Emergency Center of the Qiannan Prefecture Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital rushed to the scene as quickly as possible. At 19:35 that evening, officers from the Construction Road Squadron found the three trapped and injured cliff-fall victims under the cliff near the sightseeing road that runs along the valley floor. One of them had a head wound, his face covered in blood, lying motionless on the ground. The other two had leg injuries from the fall and were sitting paralyzed on the cold sightseeing path at the canyon’s edge.
Upon arriving at the scene, the firefighters carefully lifted the seriously injured onto a stretcher, while other rescuers helped the two with minor injuries. With the assistance of police officers, and braving the bitter cold, they took turns carrying the seriously injured up from the bottom of the Maling River Valley through a waterfall area and along a winding sightseeing walkway. To get the seriously injured to the mountaintop scenic area promptly for immediate medical treatment, when the rescuers carrying the stretcher at the front grew tired, others immediately took over. In the frigid hundred-meter-deep canyon, a life-and-death rescue unfolded overnight.
At 20:35 that evening, the firefighters and police officers finally brought the three injured to the mountaintop, where medical personnel immediately began treatment before transferring them to the hospital. Accident occurs during scenic area visit
Seriously injured victim hospitalized after rescue
According to reports, the three injured are all male, originally from Shaoyang, Hunan. They have lived in Xingyi for many years and are all around 30 years old. One of the lightly injured, who did not wish to be named, said the more seriously injured man is named Deng Moumou, and the other is Huang Moumou. On the afternoon of January 27, they descended from the mountain opposite the Maling River Canyon entrance into the scenic area, but it became dark while they were descending the steep cliffs halfway down the valley.
It is understood that as the group climbed down the steep cliffs and approached the passage leading to the valley floor of the scenic area, they found themselves stuck on a more than 10-meter-high cliff face with no way forward or back. The three used their clothes to tie a makeshift rope and decided to climb down the cliff face to reach the sightseeing path. However, the rope made of clothing had poor load-bearing capacity and could not reach the sightseeing path at the valley bottom. The first trapped individual climbed down the rope to a point two or three meters above the sightseeing path before accidentally falling, injuring his left foot. The second trapped person’s makeshift rope suddenly snapped during descent, causing him to fall more than 10 meters down the cliff face, leaving him with a head injury and barely conscious. Seeing this, the third trapped person panicked and once again used clothing to fashion a rope to descend the cliff cautiously. He fell from the sightseeing path just before reaching it, injuring his right calf.
Before press time, reporters learned that Deng Moumou, the more seriously injured, is currently still hospitalized for treatment at the Qiannan Prefecture Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital.