Dakar Rally 2016: 10 injured as car hits spectators during prologue

A car on high speed missed its track during the 2016 Dakar rally in Argentina on Saturday killing 10 people with 5 serious cases registered.
The incident interrupted the prologue programmed near Arrecifes in the Buenos Aires region of Argentina.

The car number 360 was driven by a Chinese crew headed by Guo Meiling.

Immediately the incident occurred, the organisers of the race deployed medical helicopters and ambulances to the scene of the event.

The head of a local hospital where the patients were catered for told the press that four children and a pregnant woman were among those injured.

Local authorities have launched an investigation into the matter as the exact cause of the incident is still to be determined.

A similar accident claimed the life of a spectator in 2011.

Sebastien Loeb, who has won the race nine times, safely negotiated the prologue. The prologue was won by Bernhard Brinke from the Netherlands. He was three seconds quicker than double world rally champion Carlos Sainz.

The first stage of the Dakar Rally has since been cancelled for “security reasons”.

⚠️ STAGE 1 CANCELLED FOR SECURITY REASONS / ETAPA 1 CANCELADA POR RAZONES DE SEGURIDAD ⚠️

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 3, 2016