Photographer hit and killed at the British Motocross Championships

A photographer was killed and another man was seriously injured at the British Motocross Championships this Sunday. A rider came off his bike during a jump, and the bike crashed through a barrier made of hay bales, causing the tragedy.

[Related reading: Formula 1 racer nearly crashes into photographers in the pit stop]

Photographer Simon Mitchell was covering the event and sadly lost his life when the motorcycle crashed. The BBC reports that another man, a marshal, also suffered a serious injury in the accident, while the driver wasn’t hurt. According to the same source, both men were behind a specific marshal point and not with spectators.

The racing event took place at Foxhill near Swindon and it was attended by 10,000 people. The crash occurred at about 14:50 BST on Sunday, 14 March, and the race was immediately stopped. According to a spokesperson for the event, a non-rider being killed was “very rare in motocross,” and he could “not remember a fatality that wasn’t a rider” over his 25-year-long career. Still, it has happened, and events like this should account for the safety of everyone, from riders to spectators.

[via BBC]