Alive, and 30kg lighter, after 47 days lost
RESCUERS have found two Taiwanese trekkers who went missing in a remote mountainous part of Nepal seven weeks ago — but sadly one had died three days before being found on the ledge of a waterfall.
Liang Sheng-yueh, 21, is in hospital in Kathmandu, where he was flown after being plucked from the steep slope where the couple were trapped for more than a month.
But his girlfriend Liu Chen-chun, 19, did not survive the ordeal in northwest Nepal.
Mr Liang, who lost 30kg, survived despite running out of food. Maggots had infested his right leg.
“He was sleeping when we found them,” rescuer Madhav Basnyat said. “We were very surprised to find him alive. He said that the girl died three days earlier.”
Mr Basnyat said the two had followed a river downhill in the hope of finding a village but became stuck when they reached the edge of a waterfall and were unable to climb back up.
“They had been trapped there for 47 days when we reached,” he said.
As he sipped hot soup in hospital, Mr Liang said it had been “very cold” on the mountain, and difficult to sleep.
“When he was brought in he had maggots and was starved because he hadn’t eaten,” Dr Sanjay Karki said.
After the couple‘s supplies of potatoes and noodles ran out, they consumed only water and salt.
Mr Liang’s father had chartered a helicopter to search for the couple.