The lucky man is Nguyen Tai Quyen from Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi. He was hospitalized at Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi in the morning of the following day in a serious condition.
He broke the collarbone and a spinal vertebra and also suffered internal injuries in several organs which led to kidney failure and elevated liver enzymes, said Dr. Dinh Manh Hai.
His eyes were also bruised and his cheek was scratched, Hai said.
Quyen is being treated for liver and kidneys problems and will undergo a spine surgery on December 19, Hai said.
Talking with Tuoi Tre yesterday, Quyen recalled, “At 4 pm I went alone to a cliff and then climbed over the barrier to take some photos, but the string of the camera got stuck into the barrier.
“When I was pulling the string out with one hand, I slipped and fell down to a large bush and then to another cliff, about 10 m below the barrier. I felt sharp pain in my shoulder but I remained conscious.
“Lying on the cliff, I tried to use my cell phone to call my parents but it didn’t work. I couldn’t stand up due to aches and pain over my body, so I crept on the cliff and began shouting for help. But once again, I fell down to several bushes before dropping to another cliff, which I was told later is about 70 m below the barrier.”
Quyen said after the second fall, he was too painful and exhausted to shout for help or move. He had to lie on the cliff as it turned dark and cold, hoping that someone could find him.
On the next day, the owner of the boarding house where Hai stayed informed to the management board of the Yen Tu relic site which later sent out a rescue team to look for him for several hours and finally found him after he tried to his best to shout for help at 3 pm.
The center gave him first aid and informed his parents who later took him to the hospital.
Quyen had suffered from the pain from the accident for more than 24 hours before he was saved, Vu Ngoc Huong, head of the relic management team of the Yen Tu Relic Center, said.