A 79-year-old Japanese man was rescued yesterday after spending the night stuck in a tree following a paragliding accident in a mountainous area in Pingtung County, the local fire department said.
The man took off from the Saijia Paragliding Club in Pingtung’s Saijia (賽嘉) at 2pm on Saturday and became trapped in the tree 10 minutes later, the department said.
He was found by a search-and-rescue helicopter at 3:42pm yesterday, the fire department said, adding that he was not injured, but was sent to a hospital for a checkup to make sure he was alright.
The man, who has 19 years of paragliding experience, told the rescue team that he was able to weather the cold night thanks to the windproof coat he was wearing and by using a paragliding cloth as a blanket.
Club instructor Fan Tseng-jen (范增仁) said that the man was blown off course by air streams that deviated his paraglider from its flight route, rescue workers said.
After getting tangled in the tree, the man found his location via GPS and alerted the club and his friends using a radio and a cellphone, Fan said.
The paraglider got stuck at an altitude of between 400m to 500m and did not have any food, but luckily, was carrying a bottle of water, Fan added.
The fire department said that 16 members of a Japanese sport aviation association have been staying in Saijia since Dec. 20 and go paragliding almost every day.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
Chinese embassy staffers attempted to interrupt an award ceremony of an international tea competition in France when the organizer introduced Taiwan and displayed the Republic of China flag, a Taiwanese tea farmer said in an interview published today. Hsieh Chung-lin (謝忠霖), chief executive of Juxin Tea Factory from Taichung's Lishan (梨山) area, on Dec. 2 attended the Teas of the World International Contest held at the Peruvian embassy in Paris. Hsieh was awarded a special prize for his Huagang Snow Source Tea by the nonprofit Agency for the Valorization of Agricultural Products (AVPA). During the ceremony, two Chinese embassy staffers in attendance
RSS