Gansu ultramarathon disaster
On 22 May 2021, 21 professional runners died from hypothermia out of the 172 competing in a government-run 100-kilometre (62 mi) trail running race held in the Yellow River Stone Forest in Jingtai County, Gansu, China.
| Native name | 黄河石林百公里越野赛事故 (Yellow River Stone Forest 100k trail running race accident) |
|---|---|
| Date | 22 May 2021 |
| Time | 10:30–13:00 (China Standard Time) |
| Location | Mijiashan Hill, Yellow River Stone Forest, Jingtai County, China |
| Coordinates | 36°59′42″N 104°17′19″E |
| Cause | Hypothermia; slow rescue |
| Participants | 172 |
| Deaths | 21 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 8 |
When a cold front struck, rain and possibly graupel were carried by gusts reaching level 9 (75–88 km/h [47–55 mph]). The apparent temperature ("body feel") dropped from 1 °C (34 °F) at 10:00 to −5 °C (23 °F) from 11:20 to 13:50. Many runners collapsed unconscious from hypothermia while reaching the 2,230-metre (7,320 ft) checkpoint. The organizers were unaware of the scope of the disaster because they did not assign any staff between checkpoints and they did not know the distressed point was in mobile phone signal blind spots. The collapsed runners did not survive and rescuers did not arrive until 19:00. The dead were from the lead pack due to the timing of the cold front, while the slower runners survived. The number of fatalities and the fatality rate surpassed the U.S.–China joint Yangtze rafting disaster in 1986 in Sichuan.