One member of a 17-person hiking team died while the rest have been trapped on Mount Chilai’s (奇萊) eastern ridge due to weather.
An emergency airlift helicopter was dispatched earlier today to rescue the hikers, leaving at 9am with a plan to fly three missions to bring them all down.
The 17-member team had applied to climb the mountain’s eastern ridge route, starting off on Saturday with a plan to end at Yuewangting (岳王亭) by today.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
However, on Monday, one of the hikers lost contact with the group, and was later found lying on the trail having suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
The 58-year-old victim surnamed Lee (李) was found lying down on the mountain trail unconscious and without a pulse.
The rest of the hikers were unable to move forward due to heavy snowfall, remaining trapped in the Mount Panshi Middle Peak Cabin (磐石中峰山屋).
Eight ground-based search and rescue personnel went through the snow on Monday to search for the hikers, but found it difficult to advance through the 30cm-deep snow while wearing 30kg of equipment, said Wen Chung-hau (溫宗豪), deputy chief of Hualien County Fire Department’s First Corps disaster relief team.
Due to adverse weather, rescue helicopters were unable to take off during the previous two days, Wen added.
The 16 trapped people said they were able to save food, but reported feeling abdominal pain, dizziness and altitude sickness, Wen said, adding that they still needed a rescue.
As the weather improved slightly today, a rescue helicopter was dispatched at 9am to provide relief to the trapped hikers and bring them all down in batches throughout the day, in addition to the deceased person.
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