Aug. 24 (NBD) -- Yading Nature Reserve with a land area of 1,457.4 square kilometers, located in Yading Villiage, Daocheng County, southwest China' Sichuan province, announced Tuesday that it will charge travellers for rescue.

Base charges range from 15,000 yuan (2,183.1 U.S. dollars) to 20,000 yuan (2,910.8 U.S. dollars) in different area within the reserve. The fee only covers labor costs and search equipments, not including transportation, fire-fighting and medicare services costs, according to the management department of the reserve.

Every year, lots of human and material resources were invested in rescuing hikers and climbers trying to illegally cross the area, and the paid rescue policy was aimed to alert and warn such illegal hikers, said vice director of Yading Nature Reserve's regulation department. 

Every rescue generally involved 30 people, which cost much more than the fee the reserve charges, Wang added. Wang furthur explained that those who refused to pay for the rescue will be blacklisted.

Due to complex terrain, high altitude and thin air, six people died and one went missing for illegal crossing since 2014, according to an announcement made by the reserve. 

Photo/Shetuwang

Another person-in-charge of the reserve noted that they received over 50 emergency calls on average each year and rescue efforts consumed more than 1 million yuan (145,539.2 U.S. dollars) each year, prior to the paid rescue policy. 

The policy has aroused heated debates. Some netizens said hikers are all grownups who should be responsible for their actions.

Wang Xinnian, a lawyer at a Sichuan-based law firm, held that lives of rescuers are as valuable as those who got trapped. Rescuers' efforts should be recognized and paid. 

Gao Min, vice secretary of a hiking association, echoed the opinion, saying that without necessary measures like the paid rescue policy, illegal crossing would be overwhelming. To date, Yading Nature Reserve is the only one in Sichuan which has outlined paid rescue services, Gao said.

However, columnist Song Jinbo, believed that it is a basic human right to get rescued and it is very hard to implement the policy due to an immature paid rescue system.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn