倫敦奧運火炬中途熄滅 已用火炬網上拍賣

It's been going for just three days and 115 miles but the Olympic Torch Relay has already burnt out, organisers confirmed today.

Shortly before 10am the torch that was attached to the side of Para-badminton star David Follett's wheelchair went out during his leg of the relay in Great Torrington, Devon.

But just up the road in Hatherleigh, an extremely unofficial torch kept burning despite the wind.

Back in Great Torrington, a spokeswoman for LOCOG said: 'The flame went out due to a malfunctioning burner.

'It is not uncommon for a flame to go out and this can happen for a number of reasons, for example, in extreme winds.

'A replacement torch was brought out from the convoy of vehicles and was lit from the mother flame.

'We keep the mother flame in specially designed miners' lanterns so if the flame does go out for some reason on the relay we relight it from the source of the flame,' the spokeswoman added.

The torch relay entered its third day today and will see dozens of unsung and hard-working individuals get their moment in the spotlight as they carry the torch from Exeter to Taunton.

However, some of the Olympic torchbearers have caused a stir after cashing in on their once-in-a-lifetime privilege by selling their torches on eBay.

Before the first day of the relay was completed, the gold torches appeared on the online auction site. A torch used during the relay on Saturday is currently attracting bids of more than ￡30,000.

The seller lists the item as: 'An amazing sporting souvenir, be one of the first to have one!' Other torchbearers have pledged to donate the proceeds from the sale to charity.

Sarah Milner Simonds, from Burnham-on-Sea, who is selling her torch to raise money for the project she represents, said she had received a bid of more than ￡150,000.

(Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)