One man was found dead Sunday morning and a 9-year-old girl found without vital signs after they and four others, including three children, fell into a river in New Taipei’s Shuangxi District a day earlier, according to local authorities.

The deceased, confirmed as a 45 year-old man surnamed Chung (?), was reported missing after he and the others fell into a stream while hiking along the Hubaotan Historic Trail in the district Saturday afternoon during heavy downpour.

The man’s body was spotted at 6:30 a.m. Sunday caught by an interceptor rope put on the Beishi River by the city’s firefighters under the Liuhe Bridge in the Liaojiaokeng area as part of efforts to find the missing, the New Taipei City Fire Bureau said.

The man was without vital signs when he was pulled out of the river, and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, according to the bureau.

The 9-year-old girl was also found along the river two hours later and without vital signs.

The others missing are a 48-year-old surnamed Chen (?), and three children between the ages of 8 and 15.

They were part of a group of 31 people who joined a nature experience camp on Saturday and became stranded due to bad weather, the city’s Fire Bureau said.

As of 9 p.m. Saturday, 24 of the hikers in the group had been rescued. The search for the other missing people continued Sunday morning.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel