Incidences when people have found themselves lost or trapped in unreachable places but have still survived seem to be on the rise. Last year, an Australian national walked away unscathed after days spent in the Malaysian jungle forest. A young boy from Japan similarly made it through days in a bear-inhabited forest after being left on the side of the road by his parents as punishment. And more recently, a young man from Taiwan’s National Dong Hwa University made it through 47 days in the Himalayas majorly unharmed.
Mr. Liang Sheng Yueh and his nineteen-year-old girlfriend Liu Chen Chu had traveled from India to Nepal on 9th of March to go on a hiking expedition in the Himalayas. The couple were reported to have argued over trivial matters and had encountered mishaps on their first day, one of which was the disappearance of their belongings. Locals indicated that the two forged on with their trip on that day despite severe weather that loomed.
When the couple did not check in with their parents the next day, concerns were raised by the parents. Five days later when the parents of the two trekkers still had had no contact with them, search parties to go looking for them were dispatched. The local authorities sent three guides and a helicopter to search for the couple en route to Langtang. An unfortunately timed snow storm and the threat of avalanche forced the search to come to a grinding halt. Madhar Basnet, an official of the Asian Trekking Agency which conducted the search remarked, “We had to suspend the search because of the snowstorm in the area, though it resumed on April 20th.”
Days later the rescue team discovered a freezing ravenous Mr. Liang in a canyon behind a waterfall, covered in lice and worms, near the Tipling region in Nepal’s Dhading District. Close by lay the body of his companion. Basnet said that the two appeared to have been following a stream as they climbed toward Ghatlan Village from Dhading. “They slipped from the trail into the canyon where they were not able to climb out,” he added.
Mr. Liang was flown to the Grandee International Hospital in Kathmandu province where he received treatment for minor injuries. The body of the late Ms. Chu was delivered to the hospital. Doctors from Grande reported that Liang was doing well. “He can communicate albeit slowly, and appears to suffer no traumatic injuries,” Dr. Sanjaya Karki, one of the doctors attending to Liang, affirmed.
Liang told authorities that he and his girlfriend had indeed been following the Ganesh Himal trail when they had fallen into the ravine. For days they had survived on the snacks they had with them. From then on they had relied on salt and water to keep them replenished through their days. Ms. Chu, Liang stated, had passed away three days before the search party found him. Doctors attributed the survival of Mr. Liang to the abundance of salt and water found in his body after the rescue.
