Four runners competing in a 62-mile ultramarathon in Western Australia were trapped by a fire and seriously burned.
From the Herald Sun:
A VICTORIAN woman is fighting for her life in hospital after competing in an ultra-marathon ravaged by bushfire. The victim, named locally as 35-year-old Kate Sanderson from Mornington, is believed to have suffered between 60 to 80 per cent burns to her body. She was running the 100km course in far northern WA on Friday at 5pm when a wildfire trapped her and three others in a small gorge near Kununurra.
Turia Pitt, a 24-year-old originally from NSW, is also in a critical condition, while two men have also suffered severe injuries.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service flew the two women to Darwin hospital. Two men, aged 44 and 56 and with 10 to 20 per cent burns, were flown to Perth yesterday.
Competitor Oskar Booth, 24, said the runners became trapped in a narrow gorge.
“As we came out of checkpoint two, we came into a large amount of smoke but couldn’t see any flames,” Mr Booth said.
“The fire seemed to have accelerated and gone up to the gorge and trapped people. I could see thick plumes of smoke and it was getting hard to breathe – that’s when I realised it was serious.”
A Western Australia Police arson squad detective and Fire and Emergency Services Authority fire investigator travelled to the tragic scene, amid fears the fire may have been deliberately lit.
Royal Flying Doctor Service spokeswoman Joanne Hill said the four people were trapped in a gorge at El Questro Station.
“They were running through the gorge and a bushfire held them up and they had nowhere to go,” she said.
