At Least 16 Are Killed at Race in Argentina
A race car blew a tire and plunged into a crowd of spectators at Necochea, Argentina, killing at least 16 persons and injuring more than a dozen others.
Authorities said the car, a Dodge driven by Argentine driver Edgardo Caparros, was participating in a Tourism class race Sunday for modified stock cars outside this city, 375 miles south of Buenos Aires.
Witnesses said Caparros, who was hospitalized, was going 125 m.p.h. when the tire blew and the vehicle overturned, rolling into a crowd of onlookers, including families who had been picnicking beside the race course, a closed-off section of highway.
Ambulances and fire department vehicles took victims to hospitals and clinics in Necochea, an Atlantic seaside city of 25,000.
Authorities reportedly said that 13 fatalities, including 3 women and 2 children, had been counted at the municipal hospital, and 3 more dead were at a private clinic.
The race was suspended after the accident.
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