Manca in critical condition after crash
Source: Agencies |
January 9, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ITALIAN motorcyclist Luca Manca was critically injured in a fall during the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally on Thursday in Chile and was placed in an induced coma.
Officials at Del Cobre Hospital in Calama, where 29-year-old Manca was airlifted, said he sustained critical head injuries and was breathing on a respirator. Officials described his condition as "life-threatening."
"These are critical injuries," said Dr Miguel Cortes, who treated Manca following the accident. "He's on a ventilator and in an induced coma so we can keep him resting and so he does not fight the ventilator."
Race officials said Manca was later transferred to a hospital in Santiago, capital of Chile.
Manca, lying ninth overall in his first Dakar, crashed only 10 kilometers into the 418-kilometer stage through the Atacama Desert in northern Chile from Antofagasta to Iquique.
He was praised following Wednesday's fifth stage for giving defending champion Marc Coma of Spain a rear wheel so Coma could finish the stage.
In another accident on Thursday, Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves of BMW broke his collarbone in a crash and withdrew.
The Dakar Rally is considered one of the most dangerous events in motor sports. On January 2, a 28-year-old woman was killed when a vehicle taking part in the race veered off the course and hit her during the opening stage.
French motorcyclist Pascal Terry died last year in the race.
Officials at Del Cobre Hospital in Calama, where 29-year-old Manca was airlifted, said he sustained critical head injuries and was breathing on a respirator. Officials described his condition as "life-threatening."
"These are critical injuries," said Dr Miguel Cortes, who treated Manca following the accident. "He's on a ventilator and in an induced coma so we can keep him resting and so he does not fight the ventilator."
Race officials said Manca was later transferred to a hospital in Santiago, capital of Chile.
Manca, lying ninth overall in his first Dakar, crashed only 10 kilometers into the 418-kilometer stage through the Atacama Desert in northern Chile from Antofagasta to Iquique.
He was praised following Wednesday's fifth stage for giving defending champion Marc Coma of Spain a rear wheel so Coma could finish the stage.
In another accident on Thursday, Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves of BMW broke his collarbone in a crash and withdrew.
The Dakar Rally is considered one of the most dangerous events in motor sports. On January 2, a 28-year-old woman was killed when a vehicle taking part in the race veered off the course and hit her during the opening stage.
French motorcyclist Pascal Terry died last year in the race.
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