Two Chinese climbers who found a female climber in distress while climbing Mount Everest abandoned their plans to climb the summit and chose rescue when they were still physically impacting the summit and less than 400 meters from the summit. However, the rescued woman afterwards expressed her unwillingness to pay the full rescue costs.
This matter has aroused widespread heated discussions in the society. Recently, the mountaineering company hired by the rescued woman issued a document admitting that the work error, and the rescue costs and materials and other related expenses were borne by the company. At present, the relief materials have been returned and the relevant funds have been paid; Other matters have been coordinated. Subsequently, one of the rescuers publicly confirmed that he had received the payment for the rescue.
Although this incident has come to an end, many netizens still lament: the rescued's refusal to pay for the rescue, if supported, will chill the hearts of good people, or will cause more people to be unwilling to lend a helping hand.
In reality, people often fall into danger due to their own mistakes in the process of travel, exploration, etc., which is bound to generate corresponding rescue behaviors and costs. Who pays for this fee? Should the rescued person bear all the costs incurred in the rescue? What should I do if the rescued person refuses to pay? The reporter of "Rule of Law Daily" interviewed this.
Mountain rescue is the most common
Funding shortages have become a problem
Two donkey friends trespassed into the undeveloped primeval forest area of Mount Emei and were trapped, and local rescuers successfully rescued the two for several days; A tourist trespassed into the unopened area of Qingdao Laoshan Scenic Area, and after being injured, his physical strength was exhausted and he could not walk, and 120 first aid and Qingdao Blue Sky Rescue Team carried out professional rescue; 21 tourists trespassed into the unopened area of Anhui Guniu Scenic Area, trapped deep in the mountains, and rescuers rescued for more than 7 hours...
In recent years, there have been frequent accidents caused by tourist violations, and rescuers are often seen behind them. Some of these figures are natural persons who happen to encounter hazards, some are local emergency management departments, tourism companies, and some are civil rescue teams with public welfare nature.
According to Feng Botao, director of the logistics department of the Beijing Blue Sky Rescue Team, in Beijing, the type of emergency rescue is mainly mountain rescue, such as climbing wild mountains and the old Great Wall in distress, accounting for about 60% to 70%. There is also drowning emergency rescue. "It has improved in recent years, and the number of emergency rescues has decreased a lot."
Feng Botao told reporters that in reality, emergency rescue faces many difficulties, such as the emergency rescue guarantee mechanism needs to be improved, and the government investment, assessment and evaluation, rescue compensation, reward and punishment incentives and other systems to ensure the sustainable and healthy development of emergency rescue forces need to be improved.
Taking the non-governmental non-profit organization Blue Sky Rescue Team as an example, Feng Botao said that there are difficulties in equipment, funds and manpower. Funding mainly comes from social donations, corporate donations and government procurement of services. However, most of the costs, including various rescue transportation costs, must be borne by the team members themselves, and all equipment transportation is mainly shared equally by the team members.
"Now the cost of high-tech rescue is getting higher and higher, many team members still have to go to work, once they participate in the rescue, they have to take leave, and their wages may be deducted." Therefore, for those who need to pay a large amount of money for rescue, we use voluntary registration, and we also select team members with better financial conditions. Feng Botao said.
Zhang Xinbao, a professor at the Law School of Chinese Minmin University, believes that many tourists encounter danger in scenic spots because of their own behavior, and such self-willing behavior must be paid for by themselves. Getting the government or non-profit organizations to pay is not the best way, it should be implemented on specific individuals.
"The rescue of local emergency management departments, tourism companies or other natural and legal persons is an act of good intentions and should be promoted." Zhang Xinbao said.
There is a law to pay for rescue
The percentage of payment is determined as appropriate
"The Civil Code provides a legal basis for protecting the rights and interests of rescuers." Zheng Zhifeng, associate professor at the School of Civil and Commercial Law of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said.
Zheng Zhifeng introduced that Article 183 of the Civil Code stipulates that "if oneself is harmed due to the protection of the civil rights and interests of others, the infringer shall bear civil liability, and the beneficiary may give appropriate compensation." If there is no infringer, the infringer escapes or is unable to bear civil liability, and the victim requests compensation, the beneficiary shall give appropriate compensation" "If the injured person causes damage to the aided person due to the voluntary implementation of emergency rescue acts, the rescuer shall not bear civil liability"; Article 979 stipulates that "if the administrator has no statutory or contractual obligation to manage the affairs of others in order to avoid the loss of the interests of others, he may request the beneficiary to reimburse the necessary expenses incurred in managing the affairs; Where the administrator suffers losses due to management affairs, he may request the beneficiary to give appropriate compensation. Where the management affairs do not conform to the true intention of the beneficiaries, the managers do not enjoy the rights provided for in the preceding paragraph; However, unless the true intention of the beneficiary violates the law or contrary to public order and morals".
"These provisions provide basic rules for the loss sharing of good people and good deeds such as emergency rescue, and the overall value orientation is to encourage good people and good deeds, and can provide legal relief for rescuers." Zheng Zhifeng said.
Zheng Zhifeng believes that if the beneficiary is not willing to bear the cost or is only willing to bear part of the cost, the rescuer can defend his rights through the law. The real problem that currently restricts access to emergency relief costs is that legal remedies usually require time and cost, such as filing a lawsuit, preparing evidence, hiring a lawyer, etc., which some rescuers find difficult to accept.
"Considering the various costs of filing a lawsuit by individuals, the government and society should give help, first of all, to highly recognize the rescue behavior and award honor; Secondly, legal services can be provided, and even consider the establishment of a public interest litigation system. Zheng Zhifeng said that if the beneficiary is unable to pay the fee, it can be paid in installments, or the government, society and other forces can intervene to make up for the loss of the rescuer.
Zhang Xinbao pointed out that the existing law only stipulates the principle of payment for rescue, stipulating the obligation of the rescued person to pay the fee and the right of the rescuer to claim the fee, and does not specify the conditions and proportion of the rescued person's borne expenses. If the perpetrator himself behaves badly, then the compensation ratio may need to be appropriately increased, such as from 30% or 50% to 70% or 80%. If a traffic accident occurs such as refusal to pay for towing or compensation after paying medical expenses, the rescue unit or individual may, if they deem it necessary, file a civil lawsuit with the court to obtain judicial relief.
The problem of paid rescue is to be solved
Clarify the relationship and divide rights and responsibilities
In recent years, some regions have explored paid rescue.
On July 1, 2018, Anhui Huangshan Scenic Area promulgated and implemented the Implementation Measures for Paid Rescue in Huangshan Scenic Areas (hereinafter referred to as the Measures), which is the first local normative document in China to establish a paid rescue system. Wu Feng, a staff member of the Anhui Huangshan Scenic Area Management Committee, told reporters: "The purpose of paid rescue is not to punish or fine, but to avoid more donkey friends entering undeveloped open areas without authorization and causing danger to themselves." ”
How are the manpower, costs, etc. of paid rescue arranged and calculated?
The reporter learned from the Huangshan Scenic Area Management Committee that the paid rescue costs include labor services, pre-hospital treatment, transportation, accident insurance, logistics support, and the introduction of third-party rescue forces during the rescue process. Among them, labor service expenses refer to the labor remuneration that should be paid by non-management committee staff for participating in the rescue; Pre-hospital treatment expenses refer to the medical expenses and diagnosis and treatment expenses incurred by the treatment of tourists who have suffered physical injuries; Transportation expenses refer to the expenses of vehicles, ropeways, etc. that need to be transported to ensure rescue; Accident insurance refers to the commercial insurance expenses purchased to provide accidental injury protection for the rescuers; Logistics support costs refer to the expenses of food, lodging, material consumption and other expenses incurred to provide logistical support for rescue personnel.
In June 2021, the Huangshan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism of Anhui Province solicited opinions from the public to expand the scope of paid rescue from the Huangshan Scenic Area to the mountain-type scenic spots in the city. The city defines paid rescue as "an activity in which tourists do not comply with the regulations on visiting tourist attractions in Huangshan City, enter undeveloped or unopened areas without authorization and fall into a difficult or dangerous state, and after the territorial government completes the rescue, the tourism activity organizer and the rescued person bear the corresponding rescue costs".
It is understood that after the occurrence of paid rescue, the leading group of paid rescue work of the scenic area management committee will strictly check and approve the paid rescue expenses to ensure that the recovery costs are legal and reasonable, and at the same time, within 20 working days, the "Notice of Payment of Paid Rescue Expenses" will be delivered to the tourism activity organizers and rescued persons through various channels, including the details of the charged items, payment terms, payment methods, collection account numbers and other information. If the organizer of the tourism activity and the rescued person neither raise any objection nor pay the paid rescue fee within 3 months of receiving the "Notice of Payment of Paid Rescue Expenses", the management committee will include them in the record of uncivilized behavior.
"However, in the process of practice, the paid rescue in the Huangshan Scenic Area still has the problem that the paid rescue cost accounts for a small proportion of the total rescue cost, and it is difficult to recover." Wu Feng said that for example, after completing the rescue, the tourists have left the scenic spot, and the management committee may not be able to contact the tourists, which will make it more difficult to recover.
Qi Xiaobo, chief engineer of the Tourism Research and Planning Design Center of the Institute of Geographic Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that paid rescue should be based on the intentionality of the rescued, with the meaning of punishment and consideration. For the government or scenic spots, providing "emergency rescue" public services for donkey friends is based on their rational use of public resources. Those who evade fares and break in without regard to warning signs should bear the corresponding responsibility themselves. To some extent, this can further clarify the public-private relationship, divide rights and responsibilities, and prevent public resources from paying for individual willfulness and violations.
In Qi Xiaobo's view, if tourists encounter emergencies within the operating area of the scenic spot during the normal tour, the scenic area is obliged to carry out rescue and should not charge any fees, because the scenic area is obliged to ensure the safety of tourists during the scenic tour. On the contrary, if tourists insist on encountering unexpected situations knowing that it is an unopened area, the scenic area is not obligated to rescue them, and the fee can be understood.
"The government should put more resources and energy into public rescue, encourage and support the participation of social forces through the regulations issued by the government, promote the coordinated development of emergency rescue teams of enterprises and institutions, emergency rescue teams of social organizations, and emergency volunteers, and regulate the participation of social emergency forces in emergency rescue work and reasonable collection of rescue costs." Qi Xiaobo said.