An Internet celebrity from Taipei known for taking photographs of herself in a bikini after hiking up mountain peaks nationwide died on Monday from suspected hypothermia after a fall in central Taiwan, the Nantou County Fire Department said.
The body of the woman, identified as Gigi Wu (吳季芸), was found in a gorge in Penjushan (盆駒山) at about noon, but rescuers detected no signs of life by the time they reached her, Third Squadron head Lin Cheng-yi (林正宜) said.
Wu on Saturday called for assistance on her satellite phone, indicating that she was in distress and unable to move after falling into a 30m gorge at Penjushan.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu, Taipei Times
However, weather conditions prevented the rescue team deployed to find Wu from using a helicopter, so they set out on foot.
Wu was found dead 43 hours after she made the distress call.
Rescuers were to transport her body to an open area for an airlift, the department said.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported that Wu entered Dongpu (東埔) in Nantou County on Jan. 11 and planned to hike the Batongguan Historic Trail (八通關古道) in Yushan National Park until tomorrow.
She apparently did not have a permit to hike the Yushan mountain range, the department said.
Wu, 36, gained fame online for hiking mountains nationwide and posting pictures on Facebook of herself in a bikini after completing a hike.
She had accumulated more than 14,000 followers.
In a televised interview in July last year, Wu said that the bikini shots came about a few years ago when she lost a bet to a friend and the punishment was to take pictures in a bikini after hiking up a mountain.
Wu said that she had completed 100 hikes and worn at least 97 bikinis over the past four years.
As news of her death spread, hundreds of followers began posting condolence messages on Wu’s Facebook page on Monday.
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