Olympic torch relay route in China adjusted because of Sichuan earthquake
22/5/2008 17:09
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) decided
today to adjust the route of the Olympic torch relay because of the May 12
earthquake.
The relay in the quake-hit Sichuan Province, which was scheduled
between June 15 and 18, was postponed to August 3 to 5 before the torch is taken
to Beijing, officials with the BOCOG said. Adjustments will also be made in
future legs of the relay route.
The relay was suspended for three days
between May 19 and 21 in a national mourning period after the earthquake. It was
resumed in Ningbo City of east China's Zhejiang Province today.
The
8.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in decades, has claimed 41,353 lives as
of noon yesterday, according to the Information Office of the State
Council.
The BOCOG said in a statement on its website that "the relay will be
closely related with the disaster relief work". A minute's silence will be
observed before the relay starts at every leg to mourn the victims. Donation
boxes are put along the relay route.
Chinese netizens have proposed that
surviving children of the earthquake light the Olympic cauldron, the Beijing
News reported, while others countered that it may only add to their grief. The
BOCOG officials said they have yet to decide on who will light the flame at the
opening ceremony or whether to mourn the quake dead at the occasion, the report
said.
Xinhua
|
