Shropshire war hero in shock as tragedy hits rally team
A Shropshire war hero competing in the world famous Dakar Rally this afternoon spoke of his shock after two people were killed in an accident which left three of his team-mates injured.
Captain Tony Harris, from Newport, is a team leader with Race2Recovery – a team of wounded soldiers aiming to become the first disability team to complete the gruelling race.
Yesterday one of the team's support vehicles was involved in a head-on collision with a taxi in Peru.
A second taxi overturned several times as it attempted to avoid the accident, which happened at 9.30pm local time.
The driver and a passenger in the first taxi were both killed, and three people in the support vehicle, including two former soldiers, were among seven people taken to hospitals in Tacna, Peru.
The rally began in Lima, Peru, on Saturday and ends in Santiago, Chile, on January 20.
The three injured team members are Justin Birchall, 40, a driver and civilian volunteer from Burnley, former Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer and Gulf War and Falklands war veteran Lee Townsend, a team mechanic from Yate near Bristol, and retired army Major John Winskill, 42, the team logistics expert, who lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Captain Harris, who had his left leg amputated after his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2009, described the accident as 'tragic' but vowed his team would continue to race.
He said: "Our hearts go out to the families and relatives of those who have died in this tragic accident and we offer them our condolences and sympathy.
"This is obviously a huge shock but we know that we have the blessing of the injured.
"They want the team to finish."
