Taipei, April 16 (CNA) A Chinese man, who fell into the sea while touring a scenic rock park along the northern Taiwan coast Monday, died from his injuries after doctors failed to resuscitate him at a nearby hospital.

According to police, the man, a 47-year-old Chinese national identified by his surname Jin, apparently slipped and fell into the sea while taking pictures in a restricted area along the shore of the Yehliu Geopark.

A patrol guard, who was posted quite a ways away, noticed Jin ignoring a red warning line and entering a restricted part of the rock beach. He tried blowing his whistle to warn off the man from heading closer to the shoreline but to no avail, police said.

A witness surnamed Lee said he saw the tourist walking along the shore taking pictures when the man suddenly slipped and disappeared from sight.

Lee was the first person to call for help, and Jin was rescued and rushed to National Taiwan University Hospital's Jinshan branch, police said.

The Chinese national, a village chief in Shaanxi Province, was unconscious when he was pulled out of the water and had suffered several wounds to the head, police said. He was given CPR before being driven to the hospital.

Doctors at the hospital tried to resuscitate the man for 50 minutes but were unsuccessful.

Yehliu Geopark rangers said Jin fell from a spot 50 meters beyond the warning line from rocks that were particularly slippery because of earlier rains.

According to police, Jin was part of a 19-member tour group from China that included several other officials from his office. The group's 7-day, 6-night tour of Taiwan was scheduled to end Tuesday.

The Yehliu Geopark administration said the accident was the second time a tourist had fallen into the sea since the park's management was turned over to a private company under a government contract seven years ago.

(By Liu Li-jung and Elizabeth Hsu)
enditem/ls