Re: Photographs: Exotic Car Crashes
A rally car ploughed into the crowd during a race in southern France, killing two and injuring at least 15, police said.
The car left the road at Plan-de-la-Tour, in the Var region on France’s Mediterranean coast, emergency services told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
Numerous children are said to be among the 15 injured.
The Var Rally is not a major road race in France, but as in others held in the country a major challenge is for the drivers to navigate narrow roads through rural areas at high speed as spectators watch, often from the sidelines.
According to initial reports, it appears the driver, whose identity has not been released, made a mistake at an intersection where he was supposed to turn right, but instead drove straight ahead, crashing into the spectators.
Plan-de-la Tour, located near Toulon city, gained international attention several years ago when American actor Johnny Depp and singer Vanesa Paradis bought a house there.
France’s new Minister for Youth and Sport, Valerie Fourneyron, said the incident raised a “serious question about the safety of the public at car rallies”.