Kimberley Ultramarathon: Possible murder charges!

Kimberley Ultra-marathon, a charity race known as Racing The Planet with 41 entrants is cancelled after four runners were trapped in a flaming gorge and received up to 80 percent burns and suffered for three hours without medical attention. The arson investigation by the Australian Fire Services is underway and race organizers have refused to comment on why the events transpired when the fire had been burning for five days prior to the start of the race and the organizers had knowledge of it. If its determined to be arson that is bad enough, but I don't see how the race organizers could have allowed this to happen irrespective of the nature of the origin of the fire. The fire is thought to have been natural in origin and as with most such fires in a remote area on privately owned land was left to run its course. The involvement of an arson investigator is not necessarily indicative of any belief that arson was involved.

Yes, the area is prone to bush fires and it is quite clear that some move exceptionally fast but it seems incomprehensible that race organizers did not monitor the situation more closely and did not have any ambulances pre-positioned even though the ultra marathoners are excellent runners and know they are in a rugged and remote area. There has been at least one prior death involving an entrant in the races organized by Racing The Planet.

A fire that has been burning for five days simply can not be considered an unanticipated event. Fires grow in strength and change direction. A 24 year old model from Ulladulla is fighting for her life in the hospital now but her income is surely gone. No "safe harbor" for her. (Ulladulla is aboriginal for Safe Harbor).

ADDENDUM: Race organizer has returned to Hong Kong without answering questions as to why local police and rescue services were never notified of the race that was to be held, why the race started with smoke clearly visible and why there were only non-English speaking personnel available when rescue services arrived. It should probably be noted that the daring helicopter rescue of the burn victims was performed by a pilot who happened to be near the area but was not a part of any organized rescue effort or trained for such extremely hazardous flying. It does seem that smoke on the horizon visible to race organizers would also have been visible to race entrants but I would think the organizers would be the ones most responsible for making a specific inquiry as to current conditions. The organizers had made previous mention of a variety of "cybertents" that would be set up to facilitate blogging about the event so it is clear that despite the event taking place at a geographically remote location access to weather information, satellite imagery and emergency services would have been unimpeded. No showing has been made who the non-English speaking persons were or why non-English speaking race officials would have been brought into an English speaking country for the race.

Correction: It appears that police in Western Australia were notified that the event was to be taking place but were not asked to provide any advice or assistance. The event is a privately staged event taking place on privately owned land. I don't know if anyone in Western Australia was specifically informed of a death involving a 31 year old runner in the Gobi Desert race involving Racing The Planet but certainly internet search services were available to them.

ADDENDUM: As expected the police determination is that the fire was not arson. The police investigation looked solely at origin of the fire and not at management of the event.