Prominent Ukrainian rallying driver Vadym Nesterchuk died of dehydration in the desert in Abu Dhabi after his vehicle broke down during a training session for the Silk Way 2013 rally, officials said Tuesday.
Ukraine's Nesterchuk Vadym steers his Mitsubishi past the Giza pyramids before the start of the Pharaoh Cross Country Rally near Cairo, on October 3, 2011. Nesterchuk has died of dehydration in the desert in Abu Dhabi after his vehicle broke down during a training session for the Silk Way 2013 rally.
Nesterchuk, 42, was found dead earlier this week in the Liwa Oasis in the emirate, it said.
After a technical malfunction of the car, the driver tried to walk to the nearest village. A rescue team that located him using GPS coordinates found him unconscious.
According to the embassy of Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates, the preliminary cause of Nesterchuk's death was dehydration. Police are investigating the circumstances of the death, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.
Nesterchuk, a leader of Ukrainian rally team "Sixt Ukraine", had participated in major rallies like the Dakar Rally and the Silk Way.
The 2013 Silk Way which starts in July will take competitors from Moscow to the city of Astrakhan close to the Caspian Sea.