Motor rally accident kills female spectator in Seinäjoki

A motor rally car went off the road and killed a woman watching the event on Friday night in Seinäjoki, central western Finland.

The accident took place in the first special test segment of the Seinäjoki Rally. The event is part of the Finnish rally championship race.

The regional police told Finnish news agency that the car had jumped off the road and gone several times over. The driver of the rally car was sent to hospital, and the event was suspended.

The woman was killed instantly. There were some 100 people watching and eating fast food at the scene.

Local newspaper Ilkka in Seinäjoki reported that the accident took place some 2 km from the start, in an outer curve. The speed of the car was around 120 km/h.

The rallies take place on gravel country roads.

This is the first fatality in motor rallies in Finland since 1996, when a Belgian watcher was killed and some 30 injured in the Jyvaskyla based Neste rally.

Juhani Pakari, chairman of the national rally organization, AKK'Motorsports has expressed his condolences.