Twenty-one people were killed after hail, freezing rain and high winds hit runners taking part in a 100-kilometre cross-country mountain race in China.
One runner who had been missing was found at 9:30 am, but “had already lost their vital signs,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“This suggests that this incident caused 21 deaths in total,” CCTV said. City officials had earlier confirmed 20 deaths and one person missing at a briefing earlier on Sunday.
Disastrous weather
Extreme weather hit a high-altitude section of the race held in the Yellow River Stone Forest near Baiyin city in northwestern Gansu province Saturday afternoon, city officials said.
Baiyin city mayor Zhang Xuchen said that at around midday a section of the ultramarathon course – between kilometres 20 and 31 – was “suddenly affected by disastrous weather”.
“In a short period of time, hailstones and ice rain suddenly fell in the local area, and there were strong winds. The temperature sharply dropped,” Zhang said.
Shortly after receiving messages of help from some participants, marathon organisers dispatched a rescue team that managed to save 18 of the 172 participants.
At around 2pm, weather conditions worsened and the race was immediately called off as local authorities sent more rescuers to help, Zhang said, adding that provincial authorities will further investigate its cause.
The death toll has risen to 21 after extreme weather hit a 100-km cross-country mountain marathon race in northwest China’s Gansu https://t.co/fqwxNPXlcG pic.twitter.com/s2wrWpDism
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) May 23, 2021
Dangerous rocky terrain
State news agency Xinhua reported that some of the runners suffered from hypothermia as a result of the weather, and Zhang said earlier that eight people were being treated for minor injuries in hospital and were in a stable condition.
Video footage broadcast on state media showed emergency rescue personnel in combat fatigues carrying flashlights as they climbed through the rocky terrain at night.
Some marathon participants, wrapped in heavy-duty blankets, were filmed being put on to a stretcher by rescuers.
Temperatures in the mountainous terrain dropped further overnight, Xinhua said, making search and rescue “more difficult”.
Gansu, one of China’s poorest regions, borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west.
Deadly floods and landslides have hit the province in the past, with mudslides reportedly killing well over 1,000 people in one town in 2010.
It is also prone to earthquakes. You remember the big M7.3 quake 2 days ago?
Yellow River Stone Forest is famous for its rugged mountain scenery marked by stone stalagmites and pillars, and is used as a location in many Chinese television shows and movies.
Its rock formations are believed to be four billion years old.
Supermarathons very popular
Marathons and extreme sports have seen a surge in popularity among China’s middle class in recent years.
However, Chinese marathons have often been plagued by cheating scandals. In 2018, more than 250 runners were disqualified from the Shenzhen half-marathon after they were found to be wearing fake bibs or have taken shortcuts.
So far, a handful have been handed lifetime bans by Chinese sporting authorities for cheating.
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You should really subscribe to QFiles. You will get very interesting information about strange events around the world.
See, they’re not wearing masks out there. They know the scamdemic is completely BS.
Ja wohl.
They shouldn’t be training for marathons in communist areas. It makes them a danger. They’re likely to run and escape from their future, ie., marxist enslavement.