JAKARTA, Aug 10 — A drag car veered out of control and crashed into spectators at a weekend race in Indonesia, killing eight people and injuring nine others, police said today.

The crash happened late yesterday during an organised drag car race in the city of Kotamobagu on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island.

“Eight people have died, eight are in intensive care, and one person sustained minor injuries,” North Sulawesi police chief Roycke Harry Langie told reporters.

Police have questioned several witnesses including the driver, he said.

One witness, Areng Mokoginta, told reporters yesterday the accident happened when a race car skidded shortly after the start.

The car swerved out of control and ploughed into spectators at the race in Kotamobagu, which lies about 180 kilometres southwest of the North Sulawesi capital Manado, he said.

Fatal traffic accidents are common in the Southeast Asian nation of 280 million people, where road rules are routinely ignored and vehicles are often poorly maintained. — AFP