Death toll rises to 21 in mountain marathon in China’s Gansu
The death toll has risen to 21 after extreme weather hit participants in a 100-km cross-country mountain marathon race in Baiyin City, northwest China’s Gansu Province, the neighborhood rescue headquarters said on Sunday.
Another 151 participants were confirmed safe, which eight with small injuries were treated in a healthcare facility and in stable condition.
It had been a public safeness incident caused by a sudden change found in environment, and the province had set up a special staff to further investigate the reason for the incident, said Zhang Xuchen, mayor of Baiyin City, at a press briefing on Sunday morning.
The marathon race happened on Saturday morning in the Yellow River Natural stone Forest tourist web page in Jingtai County, Baiyin City.
In line with the rescue headquarters, for about 1 p.m. Saturday, hails, freezing rainfall and gales struck the region of the race’s high-altitude stage between 20 to 31 km.
Individuals suffered from physical discomfort and loss of temperature because of the sudden drop in weather temperature.
Some of the participants went missing and the competition was halted.
Local governments initiated a crisis response and organized above 1,200 well-prepared rescuers to search for the missing people.
The temperature dropped again at night time because of the area’s complex terrain and topography, making the search and rescue more challenging.
A total of 172 persons took part in the mountain marathon race.
