Rockfall Kills Four Hikers in Taiwan's Butterfly Valley

Tragedy struck Taiwan's Butterfly Valley on Saturday afternoon when a sudden rockfall killed four hikers and injured another. The victims, all retired individuals aged between 57 and 69, were part of a 16-person hiking group from Taipei.

The incident occurred around 3:13 p.m. on a trail in Heping District, Taichung City. The group had been hiking since morning, and at the time of the rockfall, some members were resting and taking photos near a waterfall on the other side of a river crossing.

Rescue efforts were immediate, with 30 firefighters, 12 fire trucks, and volunteers converging on the scene. They first reached the sole survivor, a 70-year-old woman with a head laceration and facial bruising. She was taken to Dongshi Farmers' Hospital for treatment. The other four hikers, however, had sustained fatal injuries from the falling rocks.

Due to the remote and rugged terrain, rescuers faced significant challenges in retrieving the bodies. They used ropes to lower the bodies to the trail before carrying them out manually. The operation took several hours, with all four bodies finally being transported to the trailhead around 9 p.m. and subsequently sent to a funeral home in Taichung for examination by the prosecutor's office.

An investigation into the exact cause of the rockfall and the accident is underway. The group had started their journey from Taipei earlier that morning under stable weather conditions, with no rain reported at the time of the incident.