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4 hurt, 1 seriously, after car plows into audience at drift race in Saga

drift race
Four persons were left injured during an accident at a drift race in Saga Prefecture on Sunday (TV Asahi)

SAGA (TR) – A vehicle plunged into the audience at during an event for a specialty form of auto racing on Sunday, leaving one man unconscious and three others injured, Saga Prefectural Police said.

At around 9:30 a.m., a male spectator, aged in his 40s, was left unconscious with a brain injury after the vehicle careened over a concrete barricade and into the audience at a parking lot for a ski resort in Saga City, reports TV Asahi (Nov. 12).

Another male member of the audience suffered a broken jaw. As well, the male driver, aged in his 20s, and his passenger, also in his 20s, suffered neck and chest injuries, respectively, in the accident, police said.

Such a competition is typified by modified vehicles traveling at a high rates of speed so that their rear wheels skid, or “drift,” during turns.

About 100 spectators were present at Sunday’s event, which was organized by Carpit Morinaga, an automobile-related company.

This is not the first accident to take place at such an event. Last year, a female spectator was killed by a tire that came off a car during a training run at a circuit in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture.

Saga police have launched an investigation into the organizer of Sunday’s event on suspicion of causing an accident resulting in injury.