16 injured in motorcycle crash on Paris-Roubaix

ROUBAIX, France (Reuters) - Sixteen spectators were injured, four of them seriously, when an official motorcycle ran into the crowd during the Paris-Roubaix cycling classic race Sunday, firemen said.

The accident took place in Orchies, some 60km from the finish line when the rider, carrying a timing official, lost control of his bike at the end of a cobbled sector.

Four of the 16, including a four-year-old girl, were "seriously injured."

A woman lost consciousness and suffered a head trauma, race organisers said, adding that three of the injured were flown to hospitals in northern France by helicopter.

Firemen said many of the injured were members of the same family.

(Reporting by Pierre Savary, writing by Julien Pretot, editing by Justin Palmer)