Breaking news
Dakar Dakar
Hero rider Santosh "resuscitated" by rival after Dakar crash
Husqvarna’s Paul Spierings has revealed that he had to "resuscitate" Hero’s CS Santosh after the Indian rider suffered a huge crash on Wednesday’s fourth stage of the 2021 Dakar Rally.
Rachit Thukral Sergio Lillo
Edited: Jan 7, 2021, 12:05 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Competing in his seventh Dakar for Indian manufacturer Hero, Santosh fell off his bike 135km into the stage at 11:45am local time - in an area that features gravel tracks between mountains.
Spierings was the first to arrive at the crash scene where he found an unconscious Santosh as well as fellow Husqvarna rider Maurizio Gerini.
“I saw two bikes that were down and both riders were on the ground, one left and one right,” Spierings told RallyManiacs.com. “Gerini was okay, he immediately stood up and went over to Santosh.
“When I stopped my bike, just before the rock they hit, so that no one else could crash over it, I pushed the emergency button. After I got at him we did resuscitation and after fifteen minutes three helicopters from the organisation arrived.
“They took over from me, but at that stage I felt his heart was beating again. I was very relieved by that.”
Following the arrival of the medical team, Santosh was transported by helicopter to Al Duwadimi's Advanced Medical Post with a suspected head injury, before being flown to Saudi German Hospital in Riyadh for further medical evaluation.
At 6:50pm local time, ASO issued an update to say the 37-year-old is in induced coma to “avoid being shaken” and will undergo further scans on Thursday to determine the seriousness of his injuries.
In a separate statement, Hero said: “He [Santosh] has suffered a trauma in head. He has been sedated and will be under observation for overnight. He will undergo a scan tomorrow."
Hero lost its star rider Paulo Goncalves during the 2020 Dakar, the first to be held in Saudi Arabia, after the Portuguese veteran was killed in a major crash on the seventh stage.
Hero team principal Wolfgang Fischer said: “It was quite an emotional difficult day for us as it was the same stage we lost Paulo last year in reverse order, so a lot of emotions.
“Santosh had a bad crash today. He’s out of the Dakar, now in medical treatment in the hospital. We wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.
“On the sporting side, on the other hand we had the best result so far with a superb sixth place for J-Rod [Joaquim Rodrigues], really coming back to his rhythm. And also for Sebastian [Buhler] it was a good stage until a little mistake at the end, losing sometime.
“So we all cross fingers for Santosh to come back soon and for the team to continue without further crashes.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dakar 2021, Stage 4: Al-Attiyah beats Peterhansel to win
Next article Peterhansel: High average speed making Dakar "dangerous"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Rachit Thukral
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
3 h
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
WEC
WEC
Monza
7 h
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
More from
CS Santosh
Hero confirms Santosh, Mena for Merzouga rally
Cross-Country Rally
Cross-Country Rally
Hero confirms Santosh, Mena for Merzouga rally
Dakar 2018: Santosh finishes career-best 34th, Hero beats TVS
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar 2018: Santosh finishes career-best 34th, Hero beats TVS
Dakar 2018, Stage 13: Santosh consolidates, Pedrero beats Mena
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar 2018, Stage 13: Santosh consolidates, Pedrero beats Mena
More from
Hero
Price recounts ‘longest eight minutes’ aiding Goncalves
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Price recounts ‘longest eight minutes’ aiding Goncalves
Goncalves' team Hero withdraws from Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Goncalves' team Hero withdraws from Dakar
Merzouga Rally: India's Hero team scores impressive podium
Cross-Country Rally
Cross-Country Rally
Merzouga Rally
Merzouga Rally: India's Hero team scores impressive podium
Latest news
George Russell loses 90 points to Max Verstappen in five GPs in F1 2026 runner-up battle
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
16 min
George Russell loses 90 points to Max Verstappen in five GPs in F1 2026 runner-up battle
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 h
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe