On the afternoon of January 27, six members of a family from Yongkang, Zhejiang, including Mr. Chen, were trapped in the Feilong Mountain scenic area during a hiking trip due to a sudden heavy fog and the rugged, steep mountain paths. After nearly three hours of emergency rescue efforts by firefighters, the six tourists were successfully rescued.
At around 16:33 on the 27th, the Yongkang Fire Brigade received an alert from the command center stating that six people were lost and unable to descend from the Feilong Mountain scenic area in Tongzhai Village, Xicheng Subdistrict. Upon receiving the report, the fire brigade immediately dispatched one emergency rescue vehicle and seven officers to handle the situation.
After a 15-minute drive, the rescue team arrived at the foot of Feilong Mountain. Due to the lack of mobile phone signal in the mountains, rescuers were unable to contact the trapped individuals or pinpoint their exact location. The rescue personnel enlisted the help of several local villagers familiar with the terrain to guide them, and then equipped themselves with professional rescue tools such as safety ropes, harnesses, and rescue slings before beginning the trek up the mountain to search for the trapped group.
As it grew darker, the fog thickened further, reducing visibility on the mountain to just a few meters. Rain began to fall, and the temperature dropped to minus 2 degrees Celsius. Due to the unique karst landform of Yongkang’s Feilong Mountain Scenic Area, the mountain is full of cliffs and precipices, with no stairways for climbing. Some sections had no slope at all, being nearly 90-degree vertical drops, overgrown with weeds. Coupled with days of ice, snow, and freezing weather, and the thick fog and slippery paths in the dark, visibility was extremely poor. One wrong step could mean falling off a cliff with fatal consequences. The rescue route was extraordinarily treacherous. The rescuers shouted loudly while carefully feeling their way toward the mountaintop.
After nearly an hour and a half of searching, the rescue team finally found the six trapped individuals halfway up the mountain. The firefighters took off their own coats to wrap around the trapped people to help keep them warm. “Don’t be afraid, can you still walk? Put on the safety harness, fasten the buckle, hold onto the rope, and come down slowly!” While calming the trapped individuals, the rescuers used specialized equipment to lower them down the cliff face to solid ground. They then assisted the group step by step down the mountain. Thanks to the rescuers’ efforts, the trapped individuals were successfully brought down the mountain by around 19:00.