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Flemish entrepreneur dies in Condroz Rally smash

Tragedy struck at the final rally of the Belgian Rally season on Saturday. One of the cars participating in the the Rally of The Condroz left the road, crashing at speed into a telegraph pole. The co-pilot of the car, a 52-year-old man from Limburg province, died of his injuries. 

Businessman Rik Vanlessen was in the passenger seat of Steve Matterne’s Skoda Fabia R5 when it left the road at Ben-Ahin, near Huy in Liège Province and crashed into a telegraph pole.

Paramedics were able to revive him for a time but he eventually died of the injuries he sustained in the accident. Mr Vanlessen was from Sint-Truiden (Limburg), where he ran a transport business. Steve Matterne sustained a neck injury in the accident.

Saturday’s tragedy was the first fatal accident during a Belgian rally in 6 years. The last time a participant was killed in an accident during a rally in Belgium was at the 2012 Bocholt Rally in Limburg Province.    

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