The tweet of Carlos Sainz by Paulo Gonçalves, killed in the Dakar
The Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves, who was participating for the thirteenth time in the Dakar Rally, is the last victim of the test after suffering a fatal accident this Sunday at kilometer 263 of the stage between Riyadh and Wadi Al Dawasir (Saudi Arabia). Carlos Sainz has honored his memory: “Today is a very sad day here in the Dakar. Rest in Paz Paulo, ”wrote the Spanish pilot
Motorcyclist Patrick Dodin was the first moral victim of the race. He lost his life in 1979 after leaving the track in Agadés (Niger).
The most profitable years were 1986, when seven people died, including the “alma mater” of the test, Thierry Sabine; and 1988, in which six died.
- List of deceased participants:
- 1979: the young motorcyclist Patrick Dodin after leaving the track in Agadés (Niger).
- 1981: two technicians of the IVECO team (Franco Druetta and Andrea Carisitres), in Tamanrasset (Algeria).
- 1982: in accident the Dutch motorist Bert Oosterhuis (Yamaha XT500).
- 1983: the French biker Jean-Noel Pineau being hit, on the stage in Ouagadougou.
- 1986: Japanese motorist Yasuo Kaneko in an accident on the stretch between Paris and Sete. On January 14, the most serious accident in the history of the test occurs when five people die when a helicopter crashes in Gourma (Niger), including the creator of the test, Thierry Sabine, as well as the French singer Daniel Balavoine, the journalist Nathalie Odent, the Swiss pilot Francois-Xavier Bagnoud and the Luxembourg television technician Jean-Paul Le Fur. In addition, 48 hours after the end of the test, the Italian motorist Giampaolo Marinoni dies, who had suffered a serious fall in Dakar.
- 1988: it is the second most tragic year in the test with the death of six people. The Dutch navigator Kees Van Loevezij, when his DAF truck took six bells in Djado (Niger). Frenchman Patrick Canado crashing his Range Rover against a Mercedes. Days later, a 10-year-old girl dies hit by a vehicle crossing a crossing in the Malian city of Kita. The French motorist Jean Claude Huger dies in a Parisian hospital, after falling between the Malian towns of Tombouctou and Bamakomuere. A Mauritanian woman and her daughter perish when they are hit by a press car between Mauritania and Senegal.
- 1990: reporter and former Finnish driver Kaj Salminen dies after crashing his car with a local vehicle in Mali.
- 1990-91: the Frenchman Charles Cabannes, pilot of the Citroen assistance truck, as a result of the shots received in an ambush in the Tuareg village of Kadaouane, a town controlled by the Mali army.
- 1991-92: the French Laurent Le Bourgeois and Jean-Marie Sounillac, occupants of the Range Rover of assistance of the Duc de Boulogne team, to dump the vehicle in Sabah (Libya). French driver Gilles Lalay (Yamaha) when crashing into a medical assistance vehicle in the Congolese town of Pointe Noire.
- 1994: Belgian Michel Sansen falling from his motorcycle on a sand track in Nouakchott (Mauritania).
- 1996: Frenchman Laurent Gueguen, driver of a Mercedes participating truck, exploding an abandoned mine between Foum el Hasan and Smarra (southern Morocco). In the Guinean city of Tarembali, a girl dies when she is hit by the French motorcycle Marcel Pilet. The Spanish Tomás Urpí, dies in Tarrasa as a result of the injuries suffered when giving his car several turns of bell when he went to his hotel in the vicinity of Rabat.
- 1997: Frenchman Jean-Pierre Leduc dies when he falls from his KTM motorcycle, between the Senegalese town of Tambacunda and the Malian town of Kayes.
- 2001: Toyota Trophy team mechanic Daniel Vergnes dies in an accident while heading to the Mauritanian town of Tidjikja.
- 2003: French co-driver Bruno Cauvy dies after suffering the Toyota, piloted by Daniel Nebot, a spectacular turnaround between Zilla and Sarir (Libya).
- 2005: Spanish motorcyclist José Manuel Pérez, 'El Carni', dies on January 10 minutes after entering the hospital in Alicante, where he had been transferred from Dakar after being intervened in a serious fall on January 6 between Zquerat and Tichit The Italian motorcycle rider Fabrizio Meoni, winner of the 2001 and 2002 editions, as a result of a cardiac arrest while contesting the stage between Atar and Kiffa, in Mauritania. Two Belgian motorcyclists of the René Delaby (KTM) pilot assistance team die after being hit by a truck around the Senegalese capital.
- 2006: Australian driver Andy Caldecott (KTM) dies at the stage between Nouakchott and Kiffa (Mauritania).
- 2007: the 29-year-old South African motorcyclist Elmer Symonds dies on January 9 when he hits the edge of a dry river, at the stage between Er Rachidia and Ouarzazate (Morocco). French pilot Eric Aubijoux, 42, dies on January 20 of a cardiac arrest on the stretch between the Senegalese cities of Tambacunda and Dakar.
- January 2009: French biker Pascal Terry, 49, was found dead on the night of Tuesday, January 6 to Wednesday 7, in Jacobacci (Argentina), in the thirtieth edition of the Rally.
- January 2012: The Argentine motorcycle rider Jorge Andrés Martínez Boero, 38, dies in an accident at kilometer 55 of the first stage of the Dakar, between the Argentine towns of Mar del Plata and Santa Rosa.
- January 2013. The French motorcyclist Thomas Bourgin (KTM) dies when he crashes with his vehicle against a patrol car of the Chilean police while he played the seventh stage of the 2013 Dakar, between the Chilean city of Calama and Argentina's Salta.
- January 2014. Belgian motorcycle rider Eric Palante (Honda) died in the fifth stage of the Dakar, which ran between Chilecito and Tucumán. The truck that picks up the lagging pilots from the previous day's stage found Palante's lifeless body at kilometer 143 of the timed section.
- January 2015. The Polish motorcycle rider Michal Hernik, 39, dies during the third stage of the Dakar, between San Juan and Chilecito, at kilometer 206 of the Cuesta del Miranda, in the province of La Rioja.
- January 2020. The Portuguese pilot Paulo Gonçalves dies during the seventh stage after suffering an accident at kilometer 263 of the stage between Riyadh and Wadi Al Dawasir. EFE
