C5N channel has reported that a woman was killed and five people were injured when a 4×4 ran into a crowd during the opening stage of the off-road Dakar Rally near Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires.
A Dakar Rally security spokesman Julio Berrocal said on air that the accident took place on Saturday at the 75th kilometer of the route, near the locality of Alpa Corral, northwest of Buenos Aires.
“The Desert Warrior 4?4 driven by German Mirco Schultis veered off the track at a sharp turn and ran into a crowd of spectators,” he said, adding “28-year-old Natalia Sonia Gallardo, born in Cordoba, died, other five people were hospitalized with injures.”
Mirco Schultis said he would withdraw from the race over the accident.
The Argentinean woman has become the 55th victim of the legendary race over its 31-year history.
The rally is taking place in South America for the second successive time and will run until 16. Last year marked the first time that the rally, founded in 1979, has taken place outside Africa, in South America, due to safety reasons.
Teams from 50 countries on 52 trucks, 160 motorcycles and 138 cars are taking part in the race that kicked off from the Obelisk on Buenos Aires’s central 9th of July Avenue on New Year’s Day.
The total racing distance is 9,030 km (5,610 miles) for cars and trucks, and 8,937 km (5,553 miles) for bikes and ATVs. There are seven stages in Argentina, and seven in Chile.
Source RIA Novosti
