On June 10, in Henan Province, China, a man was riding a tricycle through the Shouyang Mountain Forest Park in Yanshi District, Luoyang City, when his neck was fatally slashed by a wire hidden between trees. On June 18, the forest park’s administrator responded that the police are currently investigating the incident, and that the park has already checked for other safety hazards.
According to Sing Tao Daily, Ms. Lan stated that her father, Mr. Lan, was 59 years old and on the morning of the 10th, around 7 a.m., he was riding his tricycle on a concrete path inside Shouyang Mountain Forest Park when his neck was cut by a wire strung between two large trees on either side of the road. He was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment but was ultimately pronounced dead.
Hospital records show that Mr. Lan presented with symptoms of “wire laceration causing clouded consciousness, difficulty breathing, and shortness of breath for over an hour.” He was admitted to hospital at 8:07 a.m. on the 10th, and was diagnosed by Yanshi People’s Hospital of Luoyang City with “neck injury, type II respiratory failure, circulatory failure, metabolic acidosis, high lactate, subcutaneous emphysema, and tracheal rupture.”
Ms. Lan mentioned that the park is open-access, covers a large area, and is often traveled by bicycles, cars, etc. She said she did not know why a wire was hung on the trees, and that there were no warning signs anywhere nearby.
Part of the Land Privately Contracted
Mr. Wang, the forest park’s administrator, said that while the park is open-access, some land has been contracted out for private use. The incident site is a resort area, which was contracted to a business back in 2011 and is now used as a training base by a social organization.
Mr. Wang mentioned that the park may have had a fence in the past, but that some time later, people might have stolen the branches and wooden railings from the fence, leaving only an iron wire. The area where the incident occurred is remote and rarely visited; the wire was at a passage connecting the internal and external areas of the park, perhaps to prevent outsiders from entering. He added, “If a sign prohibiting outsiders had been posted, maybe no one would have gone in.”