It seemed to be a normal day for shepherd Zhu Keming with his flock in the mountains of Gansu Province, China.
Then it started to rain and hail.
Zhu Keming sought refuge in a cave where he stores food and clothes.
"I remember the rain getting so heavy that I couldn't see clearly," he said in an interview with the Chinese state media.
He was frozen even though he was wearing a coat.
It was the day on which 172 participants ran the 100-kilometer Hanghe Schilin Mountain Marathon.
Cramps in the legs
Zhu Keming heard the scream of a participant, as reported by the China Daily newspaper. The runner was soaked and had cramps in his legs. He, Zhu, led him into the cave and massaged his legs, the shepherd said in the interview. Zhu made a fire to alert the runners to his cave. “I told them they could warm up in the cave. But first they declined my invitation. ”He told them that a runner was already in the cave. Another participant then entered, another also returned after a short time.
After a while, five runners would have warmed themselves around a fire. Zhu left the cave. In the freezing rain he found another runner. "I wanted to carry him into the cave, but I couldn't," he said. The other runners then came out of the cave to help him. Zhu reportedly saved three women and three men. "There were still people I couldn't save," he said. “There were two men there who were no longer alive. I couldn't do anything for her. I'm sorry. ”21 runners died on Saturday during the 100-kilometer run when they were surprised by the storm with freezing rain and hail.
“I can't say how grateful I am to the man who saved me,” wrote runner Zhang Xiaotao on Chinese social media service Weibo. "Without him, I would have stayed out there." Zhu is quoted as saying that he is "a perfectly normal person who did a perfectly normal thing."