“A human life ended because of me”: the videos of the accident of Ales Loprais in the Dakar

On Wednesday afternoon the worst possible news came from the Saudi Arabian desert where the 686-kilometre ninth stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally was taking place between Riyadh and Haradh: an Italian spectator died after being hit by a truck.

Hours later, through a video that went viral, we saw how Ales Loprais’ truck hit a spectator who was just below the jump.

In the images you can see how the big vehicle jumps the dune and when it falls it hits the Italian who falls, manages to get up and then disappears.

The point is that the Czech never noticed the presence of a spectator along the way. Even the interior camera of the truck shows that the viewer was so hidden under the sand dune that he never appeared in sight of the driver.

Hours later, Loprais was shocked when he discovered his truck had hit a spectator: “I have very bad news, which they gave me when I was returning from stage nine. We were already in bed when the Dakar stewards showed me a video of the race where we accidentally hit a man who was photographing his wife behind a dune, he was injured, nauseous and dizzy for the next two or three hours and had a heart attack on his way to the hospital.”

“A human life ended because of meindirectly, because I was driving. I have to admit that neither I nor my crew realised. We have on board and other videos that prove it. But that doesn’t change the fact that a human life is over. The man was Italian, but I don’t know his name from the investigations. A 69-year-old man who came to see the Dakar and who unfortunately was behind that dune… and we didn’t see him, none of us”, continued the pilot.

“I feel this incident will haunt me for the rest of my life,” concluded the driver.

The recklessness of the public who want to experience the world of rallies up close is a constant. Yesterday the Argentinian driver Juan Cruz Yacopini had to maneuver to prevent the Toyota Hilux from hitting another poorly positioned spectator.

“A spectator wanted to go to the other side of the dune and fell just as he was climbing. Today I tell it as an anecdote, but it’s worrying how close they want to experience the Dakar,” Yacopini told Clarín.

This morning the Czech made himself available to justice and was unable to resume the very long connection of 500 kilometers he had in this special start.