A 22-year-old woman from Taichung was yesterday rescued from a fissure in Lungpan Park (龍磐公園) in Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁) after falling into the crevice early in the morning as she joined thousands of other people congregating to view this year’s first sunrise.
In what has become an annual tradition among visitors to Kenting, an estimated 10,000 people traveled to the park early in the morning to watch the first sunrise of the new year.
The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), and her friends took a shortcut through a field in an attempt to bypass crowds on the way back to a shuttle bus when she fell into the 14m deep fissure.
Photo: Liu Pin-chuan, Taipei Times
It was the third such incident in the past four years, park officials said, adding that they all involved the same fissure.
Rescuers said they were able to extract Chen within 20 minutes, adding that she sustained only minor scratches to her arms and legs.
There are roughly 200 fissures in Lungpan Park, Kenting National Park Headquarters said, adding that there are no fissures on designated walkways.
Warnings about fissures have been issued to the public on several occasions, including after accidents, it added.
“There are signs at the park’s entrance that clearly read: ‘Beware of cliffs and fissures.’ Maybe it was too dark for them to see the signs,” the agency said.
Officials said they are reluctant to install barriers or close off Lungpan Park, as the cliffs and fissures are part of its natural attractions, and called on people to use the designated paths and avoid taking shortcuts to avoid injury.
“Lungpan Park’s many caverns are filled with coral reefs and are famous with visitors, but people do not know where the fissures are,” the agency said.
The risk of falling into a fissure is even greater in the early morning hours, when sunlight is at a minimum, the agency said, citing accidents in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 involving visitors who had gone to see the sunrise.
The incidents all occurred when the visitors walked off the designated paths in search of shortcuts, the agency said, adding that the three most recent incidents involved the same fissure near the park’s entrance.
Other popular destinations for sunrise gazing are Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County, Erliao (二寮) in Tainan and Wuling (武嶺) in Nantou County, online travel agency ezTravel said, adding that travelers seeking to greet the first sunrise on New Year’s Day also bought travel packages for places such as Fushoushan Farm (福壽山農場) in Taichung, Sandiaojiao (三貂角) in New Taipei City and Tongyu Lighthouse in Lienchiang County.
Additional reporting by CNA
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