Search for Missing Firefighter Enters 4th Day
Soldiers from Army Aviation and Special Forces Command joined the search for Taipei firefighter Li Ying-xun (李盈勳) this morning as the search entered its fourth day.
Li went missing while hiking with 2 Taipei City Fire Department colleagues in a remote mountain district in Hualien County March 1. The hikers had set out on February 28 and camped at an altitude of 580 meters. On the second day the group made camp at 1050m. At around 4:00pm Li went to look for water, and didn’t return.
The following day, March 2, Li’s colleagues Tsai Zhi-cheng (蔡智成) and Lin Geng-wei (林耿偉) reached a police station in Fenglin Township where they reported Li missing.
March 3 firefighters from Hualien County and Taipei City were deployed in 3 teams totaling 19 people. They were joined by national parks staff and local aboriginal hunters familiar with the terrain.
Today, March 7, the search team was joined by 13 members from the Lianshang Airborne Special Forces Company.
The terrain being searched has presented search and rescue teams with many challenges. On March 3, two rescuers had to be airlifted out after being injured. One slipped on wet rocks, and another was hit by falling rocks. A team using rescue dogs had to pull out after the terrain proved to steep for the dogs.
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