TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two foreign nationals went hiking with the goal of doing aerial drone photography in Shiniu Mountain, Hsinchu County when one fell off a cliff on Monday afternoon (Jan. 23).
While retrieving their drone, the Slovakian national unexpectedly lost his footing and found himself tumbling down the cliff. Fortunately, his fall was interrupted by a large tree branch some 40 meters down.
The branch held his weight and afforded him the chance of emergency rescue, per China Times. An emergency call was soon made by his hiking partner with the Hsinchu County Guanxi Fire Department responding by dispatching 2 vehicles and 10 emergency rescue personnel.
Unfortunately, difficult conditions began to settle in as daylight gave way to darkness, and visibility was further hampered by rain and fog.
When the rescuers arrived, poor visibility and fog made it impossible to spot the missing hiker with the naked eye. His location was later identified by oral communication with the hiker, who shouted out his position.
A Slovakian is lucky to be alive after a tumble down a cliff. (Hsinchu County Fire Dept. photo)
Rescuers snapped into action, immediately erecting a triangular support structure and deploying a 50-meter main rope and Petzl Maestro descender with a half-body sling. They soon made the difficult descent down the rock cliff to the fallen hiker.
The entire rescue operation lasted 90 minutes and the Slovakian national was finally hoisted off the cliff at 5:00 p.m. Upon setting foot on firm ground and surviving this life and death ordeal, his eyes welled with tears and he hugged his friend and rescuers.
He was given a quick medical check and was discovered to suffer only minor injuries, such as a deep laceration on his left forehead, dislocated fingers on his right hand and a dislocated left shoulder.
After cursory medical treatment and bandaging, the two hikers were accompanied down the mountain and sent to National Taiwan University Hospital Zhudong Branch for further observation and treatment.
