University student rescued from Mt. Fuji twice in one week

A university student has been rescued after falling ill on Mt. Fuji, police said Sunday, the second time in one week that authorities saved the man while climbing Japan’s tallest peak in the off-season.

The 27-year-old student from China living in Japan was found near the 8th station on the Fujinomiya trail, more than 3,000 meters above sea level on the mountain’s Shizuoka Prefecture side.

He was there to recover his items including a mobile phone, which he misplaced after being rescued from the summit by helicopter on Tuesday.

Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Aug. 10, 2024, shows climbers walking around the crater of Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, as its climbing season reaches its peak. The 3,776-meter mountain in central Japan straddles Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures. (Kyodo) 

Authorities said his life is not in danger.

Police said they received a call from another climber at around 12:50 p.m. on Saturday. Shizuoka prefectural police’s mountain rescue officers stretchered the student from the 8th station to the 5th, where he was handed over to the fire department.

Due to the risk of death or injury from harsh conditions on the 3,776-meter mountain, people are discouraged from entering outside of the official climbing season that typically runs from early July to early September.

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