Fatal accident of the Rallye du Condroz, a witness says: “They were told that they had to move from this dangerous zone.”

The Rallye du Condroz ended again in sadness, without a podium ceremony, after the drama that unfolded in the penultimate special linking Bas-Oha to Wanzoul.

“The number 22 car of Emeric Rary and Fabrice Henry hit a small parapet before rolling onto its side after hitting a group of spectators who were in an area prohibited to the public,”confirmed the organizer. “Despite the rapid intervention of the emergency services, two people died, a third and a member of the crew were taken to hospital for checks but their lives are not in danger. »

The race direction immediately neutralized the event and canceled the last timed section for the competitors who left after Xavier Bouche also left the road, fortunately without gravity for the crew or the public.

Once again security will be called into question on the side of Huy who deplores six deaths for twenty years.

We remember the 14-year-old kid killed by the Mitsubishi of Rik Snaet at the reception of the Villers-le-Bouillet jump in 2003. Eight years later, two spectators sitting on a bench were mowed down by the Mitsubishi of the Dutchman Erik Morée of the side of Nandrin. And four years ago, co-driver Rik Vanlessen died after his driver Steve Materne’s Skoda hit a pole in Ben-Ahin.

A photographer who attended the event as a neighbor tells us about the circumstances of this tragedy.

“The accident happened on the second uphill left after the famous Moha right-hand hairpin,”explains our witness after giving his statement to the police who opened an investigation. “A group of people arrived by a small path and placed themselves in front of a parapet at the exit of this fast bend. I personally told them not to stay there because it was dangerous. The area was marked out and clearly prohibited to the public, but this couple in their twenties did not want to move. I heard the marshals ask them to leave and warn the stage manager by radio that there were people in a bad place, but the cars had already started. It would have been necessary to make a stop start. It had started to rain. The road was very slippery. Rary’s Skoda arrived I think with slick tires on the front. He took a different trajectory from the six or seven other cars before him. The car did not turn. It understeered and crashed head-on into the parapet, killing this couple instantly before falling two or three meters below into the people’s garden. Horrible images that I will never forget. My young son is in shock. It took five minutes to pull the shocked driver out of the car. He also felt unwell. I am very sad. For these people, but especially for the rally which will again be the victim of their indiscipline. Normally, there should be no one in this place where it is clear that it could come out…”

The Rallye du Condroz had received a bad safety report last year and decided to cancel the night stages to avoid problems with spectators. Saturday was played without incident or accident and we found that the public was much more respectful of the sometimes excessive instructions put in place for safety.