A 71-year-old man who lost his way home during a hiking trip on Sha Tin’s Lion Rock mountain on Tuesday afternoon returned home on his own last night, after an overnight search that ultimately involved and least five government agencies and stretched across several mountains in the hilly New Territories.
The latest reports have revised the man’s last name to Ho, according to Oriental Daily. He was previously being referred to as Lau.
Ho’s son called authorities at about 8pm last night to inform them that his father had return home by himself, more than 24 hours after leaving for a hike at 2pm Tuesday. He told the media that his father was relatively weak and had only “fractured memories” of the incident.
Police then went to Ho’s home in Tai Wai and escorted him to hospital. The elderly man suffered slight injuries to his limbs, reportedly falling down during his search for a way off the mountain and back home.
It was reported that the retired travel photographer had spent the night on the hill and emerged from the bushes yesterday evening to find himself on Tai Po Road, where he was able to get on a bus and return home safely.
A large-scale search operation had been ongoing since 10pm Tuesday when Ho’s wife reported him being lost on the hill. The search area was expanded several times as the rescue team struggled to locate him. As of 5pm yesterday, three hours before Ho was confirmed safe, 29 fire engines and 10 ambulances had been deployed in the effort.
