Mountain rescue missions double from last year: MOIBy Huang Hsin-po and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe government from January to September launched 100 mountain search-and-rescue missions, twice as many as the same period last year, with the number of rescuers dispatched being almost three times as many, Ministry of the Interior (MOI) statistics showed on Saturday. The National Airborne Service Corps in the first nine months of this year conducted 3,211 search-and-rescue missions, 81 down from last year, mainly due to a decrease in maritime rescue missions, the statistics showed. While 100 missions were launched for search-and-rescue services in mountainous areas, the number of such missions was only 50 in the same period last year, with the number of rescuers dispatched increasing from 18 to 52, the data showed. Members of the Taitung County Fire Department’s Kuanshan Branch rescue an injured hiker in Taitung on Thursday. Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei TimesThe annual number of mountain accidents in Taiwan averaged 159 from 2002 to last year, it showed.

Source: Taipei Times November 01, 2020 15:56 UTC