Family rescued after 13 hours trapped on dangerous section of China’s Great Wall

A family of three were rescued earlier this week after being trapped for 13 hours on one of the most dangerous sections of China’s Great Wall, just north of the capital Beijing, news website People.com.cn reported.

Police received a call at about 3am on Sunday morning from a family who said they were stuck on a ridge on the Jiankou section of the wall, a completely unrestored part that winds perilously up and down the steep slopes of mountain ridges and is renowned for its stunning scenery.

A search party was formed and firefighters sought help from local villagers, but their efforts were hampered by darkness and slippery conditions after heavy rain, and were further complicated when the battery in the family’s mobile phone ran out, the report said.

They were finally located 10 hours after the initial phone call and taken off the mountain after a further three hours, with one person carried down on a stretcher. They were given a lecture by police on the dangers of hiking on unrestored parts of the wall, the report said. It did not give any details of the family or of any injuries.

The incident came just a week after two hikers had to be rescued by police in the same area in a five-hour operation. One firefighter was injured.

In February two men, who were not carrying food or drinking water, became lost in the mountains near the Jiankou section and were finally found after three searches.