Philippe Boutron, the Dakar driver seriously injured after his vehicle was hit by an explosion, has been repatriated to France and now risks the amputation of both legs.
The reasons for the explosion are still a mystery. This Thursday, December 30, 2021, in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, two days before the start of the Dakar, the pilot Philippe Boutron, which was going to take part in its ninth rally, was victim of the explosion of the assistance vehicle of which he was driving. The 61-year-old French businessman was coming out of his hotel and was on his way to carry out usage checks, accompanied by the five other members of Sodicars Racing, when the vehicle was blown away by a violent explosion. The only victim of the explosion, he was still conscious but no longer felt his legs. “His co-pilot Mayeul Barbet took him out as best he could to provide him with first aid“, says a friend Marie-France Estenave also responsible for the Gironde team, in The Parisian, this Tuesday, January 4, 2022, before he was taken to hospital.
Philippe Boutron risks amputation
The businessman, who is also president of the US Orleans football club, was repatriated to France overnight from Sunday to Monday and has since been hospitalized at Percy military hospital in Clamart, near Paris. Philippe Boutron plunged into an artificial coma in order to prevent him from suffering, but his relatives are worried: “He’s not doing well at all. He was not just injured in the calf like we said at the beginning. He was badly burned and torn in the lower limbs. We are very afraid that the doctors will have to amputate both of her legs“, they explain in the columns of the daily.
A mysterious explosion
The reasons for the explosion have yet to be determined. As our colleagues report, the Saudi authorities are trying to minimize what they consider “an accident“, discarding everything”criminal suspicion“. But it is quite another on the French side. The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs does not rule out any leads and invites French nationals in Saudi Arabia to do so”demonstration of maximum vigilance in daily life” because “the terrorist threat persistse “. Those close to Philippe Boutron, they, and although they cannot explain it to themselves, are certain;”It is not an accident but indeed a bomb attack!“, assures his co-pilot. Richard Gonzalez, boss of the Sodicars Racing team even told our colleagues from France Bleu: “It is indeed a load that there was under the side member of the vehicle who farted. I was there, I have the photos, I saw it all, it is indeed a voluntary act, there is no doubt about it.“