MKS sports stranded man is rescued after serval hours. Photo: Screenshot from media reports" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-03-10/a2a6acda-47c6-48c5-bf7c-cc4ca2f3e434.jpeg" />

The stranded man is rescued after serval hours. Photo: Screenshot from media reports

A solo hiker in an undeveloped area of a canyon scenic spot in Southwest China's Yunnan Province slipped and plunged 500 meters into a pool, sustaining injuries and hypothermia that left him stranded. Fortunately, after being swept downstream, he climbed onto a rock and was rescued after several hours of efforts.

The hiker, approximately 20 years old, was trekking alone in an undeveloped area of the Shenchuan Bridge Canyon in Yunnan's Tiger Leaping Gorge on March 5 when he slipped and fell into a canyon pool 500 meters below the bridge deck, the Paper reported.

After reaching the canyon floor, the man called emergency services himself, reporting he was immobilized and in critical condition. At 5:52 pm, upon receiving the rescue request, the local fire rescue brigade from Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture immediately deployed four fire trucks and 13 firefighters. Local police officers, scenic area staff, and medical personnel also arrived at the scene successively.

Rescuers located the man curled up on a rock at the canyon bottom, roughly 500 meters below the bridge. The distance and roaring canyon waters made communication from the bridge impossible. Through phone contact, rescuers learned the man had fallen from a cliff into water, was swept downstream, then climbed onto a rock—soaking wet, immobilized, but conscious, according to the report.

The terrain was steep and rugged, with no direct access to the victim. "The rescue route involved dense shrubs and lengthy vertical cliff sections between two platforms, posing significant difficulties," rescuers told domestic media outlets.

With guidance from locals, rescuers carried mountain rescue equipment along cliff paths to a flat area above the victim. They established anchor points across two vertical cliff platforms, deploying rescuers in two rappelling segments to approach the victim. 
At 10:16 pm, rescuers reached the unconscious, shirtless, and shivering man, quickly wrapping him in coats and sleeping bags before beginning a stretcher evacuation.

After a four-hour relay across cliffs and trails, rescuers and police carried the stretcher-bound victim to the road. The man was successfully transferred to medical personnel at 5:36 am on March 6, according to media reports.

"The hiker's actions were highly risky—he carried only a small backpack and was climbing alone in an undeveloped part of the canyon," a rescuer said, noting that he was lucky to have landed in the water—otherwise, he might not have survived.

Global Times-The Paper