More than 10,000 marathoners were injured on Sunday at the Qingyuan Marathon after a giveaway soap that smells like grape was mistaken by some runners as energy food and ate it.
The culprit is the grape-scented Royal Orchard Fruit Soap which was given to the marathon participants, some of whom ate it. As a result, medical workers treated runners more than 12,000 times, broken down into 10,000 muscle spasms and 1,700 sprains, reported Qingyuan Daily. There were also bruises, nausea and stomachaches.
The ambulance had to be called in 23 times to send people to the hospital, of whom five are in critical condition. The number of injured were about half of the 20,000 marathoners.
The 12,000 treatments were spread over five hours. The words “fruity soap” and “extra moisturizer” were written in English and there was no Chinese language translation on the freebie which explains why the situation confused local runners, reported The Wall Street Journal.
There were a number of comments on Weibo, the biggest microblogging site in China, such as “Running a marathon is not like going to the farmer’s market; it’s not for everyone,” and a sarcastic “Now you know the importance of learning English.”
One of the event’s host admitted, “The package of the soaps are indeed like food package. It is our mistake of negligence.” There were other items inside the loot bag, but it was the soap that was the most expensive. A spokesman of the marathon organizer said they added the soap so the marathoners, after the race, could use it for taking a comfortable shower when they get home.