Elderly grave-sweeper rescued from remote hillside after falling 20m down slope
The man was rescued after an air and land search by Hong Kong Police and other rescue services
An elderly man was rescued from secluded hillside in Fanling on Thursday after he fell about 20 metres down a slope and was injured and trapped overnight.
Fong Ping-fu, 84, lost his way and fell down a hillside at about 3pm on Wednesday after he swept his ancestors’ grave and burned paper offerings in Wo Hop Shek Cemetery in Fanling.
According to police, he sustained head injuries and suffered scratches on his limbs in the fall and was unable to move because he was trapped under branches at a stream on the remote hillside.
“He called Shenzhen police for help because his mobile phone only received mainland signal and made emergency call,” a police source said.
Mainland police alerted Hong Kong authorities shortly before 4pm, but the location where Fong was trapped was unclear, the source said. Police also called his mobile phone but his line was disconnected.
An air and land search, involving a Government Flying Service helicopter, was launched after Fong failed to return his Sheung Shui home and his daughter made a missing person report to police at about 6pm.