Dakar competitor passes away 24 years after accident

Jean-Michel Baron dies at home after spending almost a quarter of a century in a 'vegetative state'

SAD NEWS: A French motorcycle racer has died after 24 years in a coma following a crash in the 1986 Paris-Dakar Rally.

Jean-Michel Baron passed away at the age of 56, after spending almost quarter of a century in what's been reported as a 'vegetative state' following a crash on the infamous Dakar Rally.

Baron was just 31 years old at the time of the crash; the Frenchman spent several months in hospital before being taken home, where he survived with the help of his dedicated wife, Jocelyne.