21 Chinese runners’ kin want answers over tragedy

Family members of 21 runners who died when freezing rain and strong winds interrupted a weekend mountain race in northwestern China have rejected offers of compensation and want to know how the tragedy could happen, local media reported Wednesday.

Reports said about $150,000 in compensation has been offered for each victim, but the kin were quoted as saying that many were breadwinners and were at the top of their sport.

While the race has been held before, runners on Saturday were apparently caught off guard by cold weather and difficult conditions on steep unpaved paths mixing stones and sand.

The newspaper Shandong Business News cited family members who said the compensation offered was too little and local authorities had not provided an explanation why things went so wrong.

"This was not purely a natural disaster. There was a great deal of human error," the paper quoted one family member as saying.

A compensation sum is usually divided between the state and insurance. A joint investigation team, including officials from the state meteorological agency and the sports ministry, has moved into Baiyin to begin looking into what lessons can be learnt from the disaster, according to the city government's website.

"In being responsible to the victims and the society, we should fully cooperate with the provincial party committee and the provincial govt investigation team to do a good job in the investigation of the incident.”