Tragedy in China: 21 athletes died in a mountain race

Desperate search: One of the runners was missing but his body was later found

Twenty-one runners froze to death in China during a mountain race organized in The stone forest of the Yellow River in Baiyin, a tourist area in the northern province of Gansu.

The ultra-long distance race, in which the 172 participants have to cover approximately 100 kilometers of cross-country in a mountainous area through narrow high trails, was interrupted after some of them showed “signs of hypothermia and physical problems after every sudden temperature in a high altitude area ”, highlights the information published by the local press.

According to what was clarified, “affected by hail, freezing rain and hurricane-force winds that occurred in the area, some of the corridors disappeared” and later rescue teams found 20 dead.

The athletes began to suffer from hypothermia and physical problems due to a sudden change in temperature.

“Las autoridades desplegaron un equipo de ms de 1,200 efectivos para tratar de hallar a otro corredor que segua desaparecido, y weigh a que una nueva bajada de las temperaturas en la zona durante la noche dificult las tareas, finally fue encontrado su cuerpo”, aggrega the new.

The last part offered by the local government indicates that 151 of the participants in the race, in which 172 runners compete, were “safe”, although eight of them suffered minor injuries for which they received medical treatment and are stable.

The mayor’s apologies

Among the deceased, there will be Jiang lang, an elite Chinese driver who had won the three previous editions of the race and who had recently finished second at Vibram Hong Kong.

The main problem, according to rescuers, was that temperatures dropped to near zero degrees Celsius as runners wore “thin clothes” that did not protect them from the cold.

El alkalde of Baiyin, Zhang Xuchen, apologized deeply as the organizer of the event. “We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and injured.”

Among the deceased is Jiang Lang, an elite Chinese runner who won previous races.