An Australian man who went missing following a suspected domestic dispute a week ago was rescued from a remote cave in Taitung County’s Donghe Township (東河) today.
The 50-year-old man identified as "Matthew," who disappeared on Friday last week after getting into an argument with his wife, descended the trail while singing and shouting: “I’m going home,” rescuers said.
On Tuesday, rescuers found him playing his saxophone at the mouth of a cave in the Coastal Mountain Range while waiting for assistance.
Photo: Liu Jen-wei, Taipei Times
Rescuers spent 27 hours trekking 17.31km through slippery mountain paths to bring him down from the V-shaped cliffside that they said is easy to descend into, but extremely difficult to climb out of.
The route down was treacherous, with falling rocks, thorny brush and slippery slopes where a single misstep could have proven disastrous, said Sung Li-ting (宋麗婷), a volunteer firefighter in Changbin Township (長濱).
Matthew remained in high spirits throughout the rescue, despite having to rappel with ropes by himself at several points, she said.
His wife said that she loved him very much and had been unable to sleep these past few days.
Rescuers said that Matthew brought little food with him as well as his saxophone, and entered the mountains wearing only sandals.
Unable to clearly explain how he ended up trapped in the narrow cliffside crevice, he recalled trying to find water and a way out by following a mountain stream downhill before eventually becoming trapped in the cave.
He said he passed the time by playing his saxophone, while being fearful and uncertain whether he would be rescued.
He said he survived by drinking untreated water and relied on prayer to endure the isolation.
His first question upon seeing rescuers was: “What day is it?”
Rescuers said he was moved to tears when eating a bowl of instant noodles, realizing he had survived the ordeal.
They also said that Matthew showed a natural talent for rope descents during the evacuation.
“He is really gifted. He learned immediately after being taught,” one rescuer said, adding that his physical fitness was impressive and that “volunteer firefighters need people like him.”
While Matthew did not respond to the suggestion, his wife said he was welcome to join them.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan’s growing defense preparations might be sending a stronger signal to the US than to Beijing, highlighting the need for Taipei to tailor its deterrence efforts to different audiences, a US security academic said yesterday. Stanford University Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies fellow Oriana Skylar Mastro made the comment during a Taipei Security Dialogue panel examining lessons Taiwan could draw from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Mastro said she was impressed by Taiwan’s increased defense spending, emphasis on asymmetric capabilities and efforts to prepare society for conflict, but questioned whom those initiatives were influencing. She said when she asked
A total of 400 foreign “high- level” professionals have been naturalized as Republic of China (Taiwan) citizens over the past decade as the government has eased nationality rules to attract talent from a wider range of fields, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The 400th high-level professional, who works in the electronics industry, was approved for ROC citizenship on Aug. 26, the MOI said. The MOI quoted the newly naturalized citizen as saying that Taiwan is a leader in fields such as semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, artificial intelligence development and energy technology. He also said
China has warned that it could cancel a planned US-China leaders’ summit if Washington approves new arms sales to Taiwan, a Japanese media outlet quoted sources as saying yesterday. US President Donald Trump, “apparently eager to showcase some diplomatic achievements ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections, places great importance on holding the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平),” Japan’s Kyodo News reported. “While preparing for Xi’s upcoming trip, China has restated its position that the Taiwan issue is a ‘red line’ in bilateral relations,” the report said. The report said that when Xi met with Trump in Beijing in May, Xi said
RARE PEEK: The footage released showed one of the bears staying in a cave for as long as 70 days, providing the first record of Formosan black bear’s overwintering The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday released tracking records of released Formosan black bears for the first time, showing that they get much closer to human settlements than previously thought. The agency said it had captured two bears, Da Qu-ali (達古阿里) and Aziman (阿里曼), in indigenous villages in Hualien County and began to track them with a camera-mounted satellite collar after releasing them back into the wild. The results confirmed that the bears have moved from deep mountain areas into lowland hills closer to human communities, leading to an increase in human-bear conflicts, it said. The agency has introduced artificial intelligence-assisted early
RSS