The government from January to September launched 100 mountain search-and-rescue missions, twice as many as the same period last year, with the number of rescuers dispatched being almost three times as many, Ministry of the Interior (MOI) statistics showed on Saturday.
The National Airborne Service Corps in the first nine months of this year conducted 3,211 search-and-rescue missions, 81 down from last year, mainly due to a decrease in maritime rescue missions, the statistics showed.
While 100 missions were launched for search-and-rescue services in mountainous areas, the number of such missions was only 50 in the same period last year, with the number of rescuers dispatched increasing from 18 to 52, the data showed.
Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei Times
The annual number of mountain accidents in Taiwan averaged 159 from 2002 to last year, it showed.
However, the number of mountain accidents from January to August totaled 295, the statistics showed, suggesting that many people travel to the mountains without sufficient preparation
The surge in search-and-rescue missions in mountainous areas was not just due to more people attempting to climb mountains, but also due to commercial mountain-climbing groups advertising services to less experienced climbers, for example offering support staff who carries people’s equipment, said a ministry official, who declined to be named.
These services are often booked by people with little mountain-climbing experience, increasing the risks of accidents, the official said.
A mountain photographer, known as Vision of a Snow Ram (雪羊視界), said that while the government has in the past few years increasingly promoted outdoor activities, a bigger focus should be put on minimizing the negative effects of mountain tourism.
The government should improve search-and-rescue efforts in mountainous areas, cap the number of visitors to some areas and regulate commercial mountain-climbing groups, the photographer said, adding that efforts should also be made to raise public awareness of the dangers of mountain climbing.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS