Elderly hiker rescued after three-day ordeal in Tuen Mun hills

An extensive three-day search operation has ended in relief with the successful rescue of a 79-year-old man who went missing in the hills of Tuen Mun during a sudden rainstorm on Saturday.

The man, identified as Ho Shing-on, was found conscious and responsive on Monday afternoon by search and rescue teams near a temple in the Tai Tong area. He was airlifted by a government helicopter to Tuen Mun Hospital for medical assessment and treatment.

The ordeal began on Saturday morning when Mr. Ho and his 76-year-old wife set out for a hike along Section 10 of the MacLehose Trail.

According to their son, who later reported them missing, the couple started their walk around 8am. Partway through, Ho felt tired and decided to rest at a pavilion while his wife went ahead to take in the scenery, planning to rejoin him shortly after.

However, a sudden, heavy downpour struck the area. His wife became disoriented in the rain and lost her way. It was not until around 4pm that she managed to find her way back to the pavilion, only to discover her husband was gone.

After returning to her son's home in Tuen Mun and realizing her husband had not made it back, the family alerted the police that evening.

A large-scale search was immediately launched, with rescue personnel scouring the vast terrain from Tuen Mun to Tai Lam Chung for two days without success. A critical breakthrough came on Sunday afternoon when rescuers discovered one of Ho’s shoes near a Kwan Tai Temple in the vicinity of the Thousand Island Lake.

This discovery allowed the search teams, including the Civil Aid Service's mountain rescue unit, to narrow their focus to the Tai Tong area for today's operation.

This morning, search efforts were concentrated around key locations, including the Fat Cho Temple, Thousand Island Lake and Reservoir Islands Viewpoint. This focused approach paid off when Ho was located near the same temple where his shoe had been found.

It is understood that Ho and his wife are mainland Chinese nationals who arrived in Hong Kong in January on a temporary three-month stay to visit their son.