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Alex Zanardi seriously injured in handbike accident

ROME -- Race car driver-turned-Paralympic champion Alex Zanardi has been seriously injured again.

Police told The Associated Press that Zanardi was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Siena following a road accident near the Tuscan town of Pienza during a national race Friday for Paralympic athletes on handbikes.

A Carabinieri police official in Montepulciano said the accident involved a "heavy vehicle," and he believed Zanardi was still alive. The official did not give his name, as per local custom.

The 53-year-old Zanardi had both of his legs amputated following a horrific crash during a 2001 CART race in Germany.