When travelers' adventures take them to prohibited areas and they need to be rescued, should tax payers bear the enormous expense, or should the travelers themselves pay for the rescue work?
The Beijing Times reports that nine travelers from Zhejiang and Shanghai, one tour guide and four porters lost contact with the outside world as they entered the Haizi Ravine in the Aba Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan province on September 30. Though all 14 group members walked out of the mountains by themselves after 13 days, their behavior has sparked heated debate on who should pay for the rescue work which could have been avoided if the travelers hadn't wandered into prohibited areas.
Five rescue teams were sent out to find the lost travelers and the costs of the rescue exceeded 100,000 yuan ($15,700) including transportation and food, said Huang Jizhou, the official in charge of rescue operations in the mountains.
Last year, the Outdoors Sports Management Center of the Four Girls Mountains Area spent more than 300,000 yuan rescuing illegal climbers, said Zeng Fanrong, the director of the Center.
All the costs of these rescues come from government revenue.
Xu Ning, leader of the nine mountain climbers, admitted that they should not have changed the route without informing the local outdoors sports management center.
In an online survey, 40 percent of 4200 respondents believe that the travelers themselves should pay for the rescue expenditure, while nearly 50 percent think the travelers should also pay compensation.
To better ensure the safety of travelers, Liu Weisong, an expert at a legal research center for Tourism in Shanghai, stated that management authorities should classify adventure routes according to the difficulty, and each route should have huts, refuges and necessary food and tools.
Some experts suggest accountability guidelines should be clarified and corresponding rules should be set up.
Orignal From: Travelers trapped in banned area should pay for rescue work
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