Hiker documents his own near-fatal fall after sliding down a cliff: “I couldn’t get up

A man was lucky to be alive after taking a terrifying fall down a steep mountainside in China – and he captured it all on his own camera.

Dramatic footage of the hiker's fall from the heights was shared nearly 445,000 times on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

“I realized I couldn't get up at all and was sliding faster and faster,” Yang Meng, 42, told CNN as he recounted his near-death experience.

Meng was filming his hike through the Fanzengjian Mountains in Anhui, about 450 kilometers west of Shanghai, with a handheld 360-degree camera when he slipped and fell on the rain-soaked rocks.

“It hit me like a bolt of lightning – I must be falling off a cliff,” Meng described the moment when he began to slide down uncontrollably.

The self-recorded video shows the hiker sliding down the cliff like a human slide.

Fortunately, Meng hits a tree, which breaks his fall and probably saves his life.

“When I hit the tree, it felt like a heavy boulder crashed down. I just thought, 'I can't possibly be dead,'” said the grateful climber.

Despite the dramatic fall, he escaped unharmed except for some bruises on his leg and small cuts on his hand and thigh.

Douyin viewers commented on how lucky he was to survive the fall.

Meng said the incident taught him that “life is short” and therefore people must “appreciate it every day.”

Of course, such a fall could prevent many people from ever hiking again.

However, Meng said he will not let the ordeal stop him from doing the things he loves.

“If anything, it drives me to explore the world even more,” he said.

The tragedy occurred after the province was hit by heavy rains, believed to have been caused by Typhoons Yagi and Bebinca.

The latter made landfall on Monday and was described by Chinese media as the strongest storm to hit Shanghai in 75 years.

More than 400,000 people were evacuated from whipping winds and torrential rains that flooded streets and knocked out power in some homes, AP reported.

Meanwhile, schools and roads have been closed and thousands of flights have been cancelled.