Dakar Rally claims yet another victim

The notorious Dakar Rally has claimed another life. Motorcycle competitor Michal Hernik, aged 39, from Poland was found dead on Tuesday along Stage 3 between San Juan and Chilecito, in Argentina.

There are no accurate figures for total fatalities associated with the famous race but Hernik is believed to be the 28th. competitor to fall victim. The first competitor to die in the Dakar rally was back in 1979, Patrice Dodin a French ex-pat living in Africa.

Resulting from incidents between competitors and spectators, there are at least 40 reported fatal accidents involving non-competitors.

In a statement, race organisers say the circumstances of the death of Michal Hernik have not yet been determined and that Hernik did not show “any external signs of an accident.”

The statement continues: “When the race management detected the loss of his Irritrack signal and was informed that he had not completed the special stage at 15:16, it decided to start a search for the rider at 15:23. An ambulance helicopter found the rider 300 meters off the route at 16:03. Unfortunately, the on-board doctor could only confirm the rider’s death.”

Hernik was competing in his very first Dakar and was running 84th in the motorcycle category. Prior to this year’s event, he had completed the 2013 Morocco Rally and 2014 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.