The joy and dangers of hiking Hong Kong’s trails
Rescuers warn about the pitfalls of taking to the hills such as getting lost or hiking alone as more residents take up the pastime
The growth in the popularity of hiking in Hong Kong has seen a spike in the number of rescues, often due to walkers failing to take adequate precautions, experts say.
The number of mountain search and rescue cases has more than doubled, rising from 138 in 2005 to 340 last year, according to the Fire Services Department, which conducts search and rescue missions on hiking trails.
Meanwhile, large-scale mountain searches and rescues that require helicopters, police, firefighters and volunteers are also on the rise, based on figures from the Civil Aid Service (CAS), an official emergency force that often helps with rescues when more manpower is needed.
Its figures showed call-outs had more than doubled over the past decade to 133 last year, with one-third of these cases due to hikers getting lost, followed by people who became ill, went missing or were injured.
About 30 trained volunteer mountain search and rescue officers from the agency were involved in one of their biggest operations to date last weekend, when 16 hikers were rescued close to Ping Nam stream near Nam Chung in the notheastern New Territories, after heavy rain triggered flash floods.