Luckily, this is a hiking-gone-wrong story with a happy ending.
Emergency services have rescued six girls aged 16 to 17 who got lost during a trek on Kowloon Peak, including five who spent the night in the wilderness.
The group, students from an international school in Sha Tin, were using their semester break to walk up the hill from Jat’s Incline near Good Hope School.
The group arrived about arrived at Kowloon Peak, also known as Fei Ngo Shan, at around 10am on Monday, but got lost after more than two hours of walking on the way down.
They had read online that they could find their way down from the summit by following a trail of ribbons that have been tied to trees, but the further along the route they went, the fewer ribbons they saw.
Speaking to Coconuts HK via email, one of the party, surnamed, Fong, said that, unable to find their way back, they called police about 4pm.
Emergency services arrived about two hours later and, as the group were being guided out, Fong suffered an injury to her leg about 10pm, prompting authorities to airlift her about midnight to North Lantau Hospital for treatment.
Fong said those who remained heeded advice by a fire department rescue crew to postpone the rescue until the following day and stay overnight with rescuers on the trail.
They were airlifted to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai at around 9am the following morning.
“I would like to thank the firemen and emergency services who helped us and cared for us the entire time, we really owe them big time,” Fong said.
“My other friends are fine, they’ve only had minor scratches and they’re resting at home. I dislocated my kneecap and tore my meniscus, but I’ve been discharged and am getting better now.”
Kowloon Peak was among the hiking trails listed by the authorities as an accident black spot at the start of this year.
In November, a female hiker lost her life after scaling the ominously named suicide cliff.
Be careful out there Coconauts.
*This article was updated on Thursday, October 25, to include more information.
