MOTO-X » DAKAR: Motorcyclist found dead

Seems very strange that it took so long to find him. I thought all of the vehicles had radio beacons that are triggered if there is a massive accident or if the rider hit the distress button.

My sombrero is off to these incredible men. This race is truly one of the greatest test of courage and determination left on this planet.

I hope there are no more tragedies.

Mike Villasenor

This is unbelievable. Apparently his GPS beacon had been set off yet it took the organisers 3 days to find him. If this is true then they want to stop this event NOW. This is no way to run an event if the guys safety beacon was activated why did it take them 3 days to find him?
He apparently had water and food next to him but who's to say why he died. A tragedy.

My thoughts go out to his loved ones.

RIP

Terrible news. My condolences to his family and friends.

TRAGIC..Beyond belief this could happen. Deepest sympathy to Pascal's loved ones

I read somewhere on another site that he had a heart attack... not sure if that has been confirmed anywhere else

Deepest sympathies to his family. Though it seems that riders are killed every year, it's always a surprise and never lessens the tragedy and horrror a family must feel.

From a press release:

French motorcyclist Pascal Terry died of a lung edema which caused a respiratory and cardiac arrest, according to an autopsy.

Terry was found dead early Wednesday morning after going missing during the second stage of the Dakar Rally on Sunday.

The 49-year-old had informed race control his Yamaha had run out of petrol at the 197-kilometre mark between Santa Rosa and Puerto Madrid but later could not be contacted by organisers.

Two more relevant links that explain details of what happened:

www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/249548,criticism-mounts-over-death-of-dakar-rally-biker.html

and particularly:

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/rallying/4175380/Dakar-rider-Pascal-Terry-could-have-been-saved.html

I read of this incident on ceefax and came here to express disbelief that there was no tracking facility on the bike or rider and read (from the posts above) there is some. Well what is going on? Here in the UK you can have your bike fitted with a tracker. I've seen plenty wildlife progs where an animal has beed fitted with a transmitter. OK the race is on a large scale and i've not watched this year but I bet there is still helicopter footage? When boat races go wrong competitiors will turn back to help. We have a motorcyclist down, some form of transmission (that sounds like it could be improved upon), helicopters to cover large areas...*speetchless*