A record 3,111 people became stranded on mountains last year amid a boom in the popularity of mountaineering that has led many inexperienced climbers to venture into the backcountry, a National Police Agency report showed Thursday.
The total was up 182 from the previous year while those that died or weren't found also hit a record, up 35 to 354, the report said. The agency began compiling such data in 1961.
With the rise in inbound tourism in recent years, the number of stranded foreign climbers grew to 121, a nearly threefold increase from 2013, it said.