Having gained a reputation as one of the world’s most difficult and dangerous endurance races, drivers who sign up for the Dakar Rally know that they are risking life and limb in the pursuit of motorsports. It isn’t just drivers that are at risk though, as this year’s Dakar event proved in the opening Prologue stage when a new driver crashed her X-Raid MINI into a crowd of spectators, injuring at least 11 people at last count, with five of those being children.

Motorsport.com reports that at least two of the injured bystanders, a father and son, are in critical but stable condition. It’s a dire reminder that motorsports events should never be taken lightly, and danger is always around the corner.

47-year old Guo Meiling was the driver of the X-Raid MINI, losing control just 6 kilometers into the Prologue stage swerving left and right before smashing into a crowd of spectators. Meiling is the first Asian woman to race in the Dakar, though she withdrew from the course after Saturday’s accident. Race organizers also had to cancel the first official day of racing on Sunday after inclement weather shut down the course. It was all-in-all a bad start for the 38th running of the Dakar Rally.

While it would be easy to lay the blame solely on the driver, spectators absolutely bear some responsibility for choosing to stand just feet away from an active race course with nothing in the way of barriers or protection. Furthermore, the crash could be a result of mechanical malfunction, rather than driver error. For all the safety advancements that have become commonplace in motorsports, death is never far away at the race track or rally course.