Emergency response teams and a helicopter crew rescued six climbers after they became stuck in ice on snowbound Yushan (玉山) early yesterday morning.
The group was airlifted after rescuers found them above the mountain’s 3,000m mark using a search and rescue Air force Sikorsky Bluehawk Helicopter at 8:10am.
Medics on the scene said the six mountaineers were unhurt. However, the leader of the group, Chen Men-ciong (陳門瓊), remains missing after falling into a mountain gorge group members said was hundreds of meters deep.
PHOTO: CNA
The National Parks Police Corps precinct of Yushan National Park told reporters yesterday after the rescue that rescuers had dropped off the helicopter into the gorge in an attempt to look for Chen.
Despite multiple attempts, no trace of the missing mountaineer has been found. However, officials said they would step up rescue efforts and that rescuers would continue to look for Chen downriver at Kaohsiung County’s Nanzihsian River (楠梓仙溪).
Officials at the precinct said they would attempt to enlist the help of experienced climbers Chiang Hsiu-chen (江秀真), Wu Yu-lung (伍玉龍) and the rest of their team to assist rescuers as many lacked experience for high-altitude rescue in heavy snow.
The gorge in which Chen is believed to have fallen into has been blanketed by between 40cm and 50cm of snow.
The extreme drop in temperatures — the result of a cold front from the northwest — is behind the large amounts of snowfall recorded at Yushan and Hehuanshan (合歡山).
After near 11 hours of continuous snowfall on Hehuan Mountain, accumulations were at 10-year highs of as much as 50cm, measured near Song-syue Lodge, a popular tourist attraction.
Police have set up a monitoring station in the mountain and are restricting large vehicles from entering the area. Tourists visiting the Song-syue Lodge and Wuling (武嶺) areas are restricted to traveling in four-wheel drive vehicles equipped with snow chains.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS