Floods in Romania Kill National Champion during Off-road Rally

Romania is under heavy rains for weeks now and most of the lakes and rivers overflooded. Also, entire localities are underwater, and each rain episode creates additional problems for the affected cities and villages.

This is the context where one of the stages of the off-road national rally was organized in Slanic Moldova, Bacau county. The pilot, Adrian Cernea, and the co-pilot, Alex Tache, were racing at the event with their off-road vehicle when they reached that river which they wanted to cross over.

Lots of other teams crossed that river before them during the same competition, but apparently the water flow suddenly increased and the car rolled over. The co-pilot managed to get off the vehicle and reach the shore, but the pilot couldn’t make it.

The organizers of the stage are now investigated for possible guilt after starting the stage despite the warning of the weather information service regarding the possibility for such events to occur. Reportedly, the pilots assumed the risks and wanted to compete at the rally anyway.

In a country where illegal logging happens in plain daylight and the authorities don’t mind that entire forests disappear every month, there is no wonder that the floods wreak havoc after heavy rains. Maybe such tragic events will succeed in sounding an alarm for what is really happening to the Romanian forests.