Dakar Rally driver crashes in Argentina, one dead
By DPA, IANSFriday, January 14, 2011
CATAMARCA - One person was dead Thursday after a Dakar Rally participant crashed into a car that was not involved in the race.
The race participant, Eduardo Amor, of Argentina was arrested pending further investigation of the incident, the Argentine news agency DyN reported.
The dead man was identified as an Argentinian who was driving his car outside Tinogasta, in the northern Argentine province of Catamarca, as the Rally participants moved through.
The accident happened around dawn Thursday, and the Toyota Hilux participant was many hours behind the pack.
Most of the rest of the Rally participants had already completed that stage - between Copiapo, Chile and Chilecito, Argentina - by Wednesday afternoon, organisers said.
Amor reported the accident to race organisers, who sent an ambulance and a helicopter to the site. The seriously injured man, 48, was taken to Tinogasta hospital, where he later died.
This was the second death in this year’s edition of the prestigious offroad race, after an electrician died last week as he set up a camp for participants. The tough and risky Dakar Rally has claimed scores of lives in its history.
