Two Taiwanese die in separate mountaineering accidents

兩台灣人分別在登山事故中喪生

For those who lose phone signals in the mountains, dial 112, which can connect to emergency services


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two men were found dead on Friday (Dec. 4) and Saturday in separate incidents after they went solo mountaineering early this week.

Hsinchu County Fire Bureau said that it received a request for help on the night of Nov. 29 from the family of a 64-year-old man surnamed Chien (錢). The relatives reported that Chien went to climb Nalo Mountain in Hsinchu County alone, but he did not return home as scheduled the same day, according to CNA.

Search teams consisting of firefighters, volunteers, and Hsinchu Forest District Office staff immediately began looking for Chien in the area he was suspected to have gone missing.

The fire bureau said that after several days’ search, Chien was found dead in a forest under the summit of Nalo Mountain on Saturday.

Mountains in Hsinchu County are mostly lower than 3,000 meters in elevation and covered by broad-leaved evergreen forests, the fire bureau said, adding that there are many hunting trails that can be confusing to hikers.

In a separate incident, a man living in Pingtung County surnamed Huang (黃) was found dead in a river valley in Xiuguluan Mountain, which has a summit that is 3,805 meters in elevation.

Huang, 24, rode a scooter from his home in Pingtung County on Nov. 30 to Nantou County’s Sinyi Township and stayed there overnight. He took the scooter very early the next morning to a trailhead in neighboring Tongpu, from which he set out to climb Xiuguluan Mountain.

He planned to scale the mountain in two days, starting early on Dec. 1, staying overnight in Baiyang Mine Cabin, and returning on Dec. 2. However, things did not go as planned, and his family reported him missing after he fell out of contact.

Nantou County Fire Bureau said that they made a request to Huang’s telecom carrier for the locations where his cellphone had last emitted signals. The data indicated he was active in the area between Tongpu, Lele Cabin, and Yinu Waterfall from 2 - 4 a.m. on Dec. 1, but there was no movement after that.

Taking into consideration that there have been several recent landslides in the area, search personnel did not exclude the possibility that Huang might have slipped and fallen into the valley while walking at night. As they had feared, firefighters found his body at the bottom of a valley below a landslide on Friday.

Hsinchu County Fire Bureau reminds that if your mobile phone has no signal in a mountainous area, you can dial 112 or send a description of your location via text message, which will Put you through emergency services. Another option is to ascend to a mountain ridge, where it is much easier to get a signal and call for help.