Tourist rescued from deserted island

Police rescued a tourist Wednesday who got himself trapped overnight on a deserted island near the Yangshan Deep Water Port.

A police rescue crew returned the tourist, surnamed Ma, to safety around 7:20 am after spending Tuesday night with him on Bodaozui Island, a 0.61-square-kilometer island located off the southeastern coast of Shanghai, according to a press release from the port division of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.

Ma and his two friends had unwittingly crossed a man-made land bridge to the uninhabited island earlier in the day while driving around the neighboring Xiaoyangshan Island, which is home to a popular national scenic spot, said Luo Jianguo, a press officer with the Shanghai port police.

"They didn't know they were on another island," Luo told the Global Times.

When the three friends ran out of road, they stopped the car and began hiking around the island, Luo said. At some point, Ma got separated from the others.

Ma's friends called police around 5:45 pm to report him missing, according to the press release. They spent more than two hours looking for him, but there were no lights or modern infrastructure on the island to aid their search.

It turned out that Ma had climbed down a 30-meter-high cliff to the rocky shore of the island.

The rescuers found Ma trapped on a large rock at the bottom of the cliff face. They had to climb down the cliff and crawl across the rocks to reach Ma before the tide came in. They reached Ma in time and took him to higher ground.

The tide eventually covered the rock Ma had sheltered on. Ma and his rescuers had to spend the night on the island because it was too dangerous for a helicopter or boat to reach them at night. It was too dark and there were too many rocks along the coastline.

After the sun came up, the rescuers were able to climb back up the cliff with Ma around 5 am. He was unhurt after spending 12 hours stranded on the island.

Police warned tourists against traveling to the many undeveloped islands around the Yangshan Deep Water Port.