TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A female hiker fell to her death in a mountainous area in central Taiwan between Sunday night (Sept. 4) and early Monday morning.
The Nantou County Fire Bureau said in a press release that it received a call at 6:18 a.m. on Monday morning, informing them about a mountaineering accident that happened at the 43 km mark on Jyunda Forest Road in Xinyi Township, Nantou County. The bureau dispatched a ground search and rescue team of six people.
CNA reported that the victim was a 56-year-old female hiker surnamed Lin (林), who suffered serious head injuries and was unconscious after falling into a ravine.
Lin and six others had embarked on a mountain climbing expedition in the Southern Third Section of the Central Mountain Range, and they entered the mountains from Hualien County on Aug. 25, according to the bureau’s release. The group planned to go down the mountain via the forest road on Monday, per CNA.
As the victim’s injuries were life-threatening and the forest road was inaccessible by car due to several landslides along the road, the bureau applied to the National Fire Agency for a helicopter to take the rescue team to the scene of the accident, the county fire bureau said.
The helicopter dropped the rescue team at a heliport at the 36 km mark around 11 a.m., the bureau said. At 1:43 p.m., the team reached the victim and reported that she had died with serious injuries to the head after falling about 70 meters.
Lin’s body was carried to a hut near the heliport in the evening and will be airlifted out of the mountain on Tuesday, the bureau added.
According to the CNA report, the mountaineering group camped out at the 43 kilometer mark overnight, and it was suspected that Lin fell into the ravine while answering nature’s call.
(Nantou County Fire Bureau photo)
