Tourists Arrested For Climbing a Sacred Mountain at Chinese World Heritage Site

Thrill-seeking tourists who climbed an off-limits area of a World Heritage Site in China were arrested by authorities immediately after their dangerous trek.

A widely shared video on Chinese social media showed the arrest of the three unnamed tourists who dared to scale a rock pillar at Mount Sanqing, a renowned and sacred Taoist mountain.

The clip also briefly included some highlights of the arrested tourists’ climb, showing the climbers reaching the peak of the rock formation with an angle seemingly caught with the use of a drone.

According to Daily Mail, the climbers were caught scaling the 420-foot-tall rock pillar on April 16. Staff guarding the mountain reportedly tried to prevent them from climbing but went on their way anyway.

The careless stunt attracted onlookers and eventually reached the attention of authorities as well. Rescuers, with local police, assisted in bringing the climbers back to the ground safely, preventing any untoward accidents from happening. The arrested climbers were detained for a week.

Mount Sanqing, which is classified as one of China’s national parks, is home to over 2300 species of plants and 400 species of animals. The site became a National Geopark in 2005 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.

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