The life of a Portuguese support driver who lost his left foot yesterday after driving over a landmine during the 2001 Dakar Rally is not in danger, doctors attending him said. Jose Eduardo Ribeiro, who was injured when a landmine exploded under his car, was airlifted by a UN helicopter to the Gran Canarias hospital in Las Palmas and immediately underwent medical observations.
Ribeiro's car had strayed from the course when it triggered a land mine buried in the desert sand that blew off his left foot, said a United Nations spokesperson, who asked not to be identified by name. The accident took place during the eighth stage, after the race crossed from disputed territory of Western Sahara into Mauritania.
Ribeiro's car was near the so-called sand-wall built by the Moroccan army along the two territories' international border to block potential advancements by the polisario front, a group of rebels seeking independence for the vast desert territory that Morocco annexed in 1975. Ribeiro's car was near the so-called sand-wall built by the Moroccan army along the two territories' international border to block potential advancements by the polisario front, a group of rebels seeking independence for the vast desert territory that Morocco annexed in 1975.