Six spectators remain in hospital tonight after they were hit during an accident in the first lap of the Senior TT race.
A statement from ACU Events Ltd, which runs the TT, said: ‘ACU Events can confirm that 10 spectators were injured during an incident in the Senior TT Race.
‘The rider Jonathan Howarth sustained a minor fracture.
‘The race was red flagged and emergency services were immediately in attendance at the scene.
‘The 10 spectators and the rider were taken to hospital with injuries ranging from slight to serious but not life threatening. Four of the spectators have been discharged, five of the injured have been kept in hospital and one remains under observation in the emergency department.’
One spectator, Phil Bancroft, described how he was “shaking like a leaf” after coming close to being struck by the bike.
He tweeted: ‘Bike heading for me. Just ducked. Hit by bits of bike. Ok thou.
‘I just hope those poor people are ok. I honestly thought I was dead. I’ve had a close miss once before on the finishing flag team. But never anything like this.
‘I thought I was a goner. Quite horrible it was. Never been that close to serious injury at the TT.’
Witness Stuart Plant told the BBC there was ‘chaos’ and that he saw ‘flying debris’, saying it looked like the bike ‘hit the crowd opposite at some speed’.
Another witness, John Leonard, said: ‘I saw the rider come over top of the hill and he lost the back end of the bike.
‘It was fish-tailing at phenomenal speed - there was no way he was staying on the bike.
‘He slid past on his belly and went all the way through the lights at the bottom of the hill into a lamppost. Amazingly he got up and walked away.’
The race was re-started at 4.30pm.
Were you an eyewitness?
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Email newsdesk@newsiom.co.im and tell us what you saw.
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{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/mcguinness-wins-20th-tt-1-5749523|McGuinness wins 20th TT}