Groups of 21 Chinese runners want answers over tragedy

Members of the family of 21 runners who died when freezing rainfall and strong winds interrupted a good weekend mountain race found in northwestern China have rejected has of compensation and want to know how the tragedy can happen, local media reported on Wednesday (May 26).

Reports said about US$150,000 in compensation features been offered for each and every victim, but members of the family were quoted as saying that lots of were breadwinners and were near the top of their sport.

While the competition has been held before, runners on Saturday were apparently caught off safeguard by winter and difficult conditions on steep unpaved paths blending stones and sand.

They were racing on an exceptionally narrow mountain path at an altitude reaching 2,000 to 3,000m on a 100km course in the Yellow River Stone Forest tourist site on the outskirts of Baiyin city. Around midday on Saturday, freezing rainfall and gale-drive winds halted the competition in the northwestern province of Gansu and prompted an all-night rescue procedure.

About 50 of the a lot more than 170 competitors received shelter in traditional cave dwellings maintained by shepherds.

The newspaper Shandong Business News cited family who asked never to be discovered saying the compensation offered was inadequate and local authorities hadn't provided a conclusion why things went so wrong. 

“This is not purely an all natural disaster. There was a lot of human mistake," the paper quoted one relative as saying.

A good compensation sum is often divided between your state and insurance.

A joint investigation team, incorporating officials from the state meteorological agency and the sports activities ministry, has moved into Baiyin to start looking into what lessons could be learned from the disaster, based on the city government's website.

“In getting responsible to the victims and to the society, we have to fully cooperate with the provincial party committee and the provincial authorities investigation team to accomplish a good job found in the investigation of the incident, find away the reasons comprehensive and seek fact from facts," the affirmation said, quoting remarks by Baiyin Mayor Zhang Xuchen.