A US professor of Chinese descent was found dead near a hikers’ campsite in central Taiwan yesterday morning, five days after she was reported missing and her tour guide was found dead while on a hike over mountainous terrain.
The body of the professor, surnamed Yeh (葉), was discovered about 150m from the Dalu Pond campsite on the Nenggao-Andongjun Trail that runs along the border of Nantou and Hualien counties, local rescue workers said.
The National Airborne Service Corps dispatched aircraft and personnel to transport the bodies, the rescuers said.
Photo courtesy of a member of the public
Yeh, 56, was a member of a six-person group that began hiking on the trail on Tuesday last week.
The group consisted of three US women — Yeh, her 25-year-old niece and a 55-year-old colleague — the guide, surnamed Chen (陳), and two people who Chen recruited to help with the hike.
Soon after the hike began at the Tunyuan Trailhead the group split into two, with two of the women and the two helpers heading off ahead of Chen and Yeh, the Hualien County Fire Department said.
At about noon on Thursday, Chen contacted the helpers and told them he suspected he had hypothermia and that Yeh had altitude sickness, the department said on Saturday.
At about 11am on Friday, a rescue team found Chen, who had died from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, the department said.
They continued the search for Yeh, it said.
The search was hampered by bad weather, including thick fog.
The Airborne Service Corps dispatched a fourth team yesterday morning after the weather improved and they found Yeh’s body at about 7am on a slope about 150m below Dalu Pond, the department said.
Yeh’s family arrived in Taiwan on Monday and was expected to travel to the Hualien City Funeral Home to meet with the rescuers.
The corps had also tried twice in previous days to bring Chen’s body down, but failed both times due to inclement weather.
With the fog getting worse yesterday after Yeh’s body was recovered, the Airborne Service Corps waited for better weather to make another attempt to bring Chen’s body down, the department said.
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