Sport | Other Sports
Poignant tribute to Victory Team heroes
Wife and officials make honour lap to site of fatal crash that took husband Sanchez and Al Muhairi's life
- by Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 December 13, 2009
- Image Credit: Supplied picture
- Drivers and teams went out to sea to perform a solemn "honour lap" to pay their last respects to the two Victory 1 pilots.
Dubai : The world watersports family joined the Dubai-based Victory Team in mourning the loss of Mohammad Bin Majid Al Muhairi and Jean-Marc Sanchez who died in an accident during Friday's 2009 UIM/WPPA Class One World Powerboat Championship.
Drivers and teams who participated in the event went out to sea to perform a solemn "honour lap" to pay their respects to the two Victory 1 pilots.
Sanchez and Al Muhairi were declared dead on arrival after being airlifted to Rashid Hospital following a high-speed crash during the penultimate round of the Class One World Powerboat Championships around 4pm on Friday.
Family present
Saturday's procession to the site of the accident was led by Jean-Marc Sanchez's wife Sara and their two children accompanied by Saeed Hareb, chairman of the WPPA and Managing Director of DIMC along with Sid Bensaleh, Secretary General, WPPA and event organiser, among others.
Following the lead boat were world champions Nader Bin Hindi and Arif Saif Al Zafein in Fazza and Abdullah Al Muhairbi and Mohammad Al Merri in Victory 7 followed by the other competitors and rescue boats carrying guests, officials, boat crews and media. A few people even lined up along the breakwater front to observe the spectacle of boats moving en masse out to sea.
All participating boats had "No 1" on their sides in memory of the two Victory 1 pilots.
Accident scene
After reaching the spot where her husband's boat flipped and crashed, Sara threw a wreath on the water and waved to everyone around and thanked them for supporting and standing by them in their moment of grief.
All present were wearing black armbands while team members carrying wreaths threw them into the water at the accident site.
Team drivers looked blankly out at the water that had claimed two of their own, while some broke down openly remembering the two pilots.
The boats then proceeded to the starting line before heading back to the pits.
Lessons
"It is from accidents like these that we learn. It also tells us that any amount of safety measures that we take may probably never be enough.
"We need to do more so that the pilots that go out on the water have all the chances to race and return back safely," Marco Sala, secretary general of the International Offshore Teams Association, told Gulf News.
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