Missing hiker is found on waterfall ledge with girlfriend’s body
A TREKKER who went missing on a mountain in Nepal for 47 days has been rescued, but his girlfriend died three days before they were discovered.
Liang Sheng-yueh, 21, from Taiwan, was found yesterday on the ledge of a waterfall along with the body of his girlfriend.
The students appeared to have followed a river hoping to find a village but slipped and fell over the waterfall on to a ledge and were then unable to climb up or down, said Madhav Basnet, an official from agency Asian Trekking.
They had been caught in a snowstorm and had no guides or porters and were carrying their own food, tent and sleeping bags.
Mr Liang was flown by helicopter from the area, which is at an altitude of 8,520ft, to a hospital in the capital, Kathmandu, along with the body of his girlfriend, 19-year-old Liu Chen-chun. Ajay Singh Thapa, a doctor at Grande Hospital in Kathmandu, said: “He was suffering from severe malnutrition.
“His foot was covered with maggots and his hair was full of lice. Despite having to live like that for 47 days, he appears to be mostly normal.”
The doctor said that it appeared Mr Liang had survived on water and salt for most of the time.
“He appears exhausted and lost 30kg [four and a half stone] of body weight,” Mr Ajay added.
Mr Liang and Ms Liu were last in contact with their families on March 3. They failed to call their relations again as planned on March 10 and five days later family members asked for help to find them.
The hikers were supposed to meet some Taiwanese friends in Langtang Village, and possible routes leading to that location were searched. It was re- ported that police hired three guides to find them, but heavy snowfall and occasional avalanches hindered their progress.
The Missing Trekker website reported that, according to the couple’s Facebook posts, they were experiencing some difficulties prior to their trek with missing luggage and arguments over “trivial matters”. Ms Liu is reported to have written: “I wish I had never ended up here.”