Two children are still recovering in hospital after being hit by a rally car while watching the 11th stage of the Network Q rally on Saturday.

A 13-year-old girl with leg injuries is recovering after surgery at West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen while her brother, who suffered back injuries, is expected to be released later.

Thirteen people were injured, four seriously, when Spain's two-time world champion Carlos Sainz ploughed into spectators in the nearby Brechfa Forest, Carmarthenshire.

The south west Wales location of the rally crash

But rally organisers have defended the safety precautions taken at the event.

Both police and rally officials have launched an inquiry after Sainz's Ford Focus slid wide at a corner, eight miles into the muddy forest, after apparently striking a marshal's vehicle parked along the route.

Sainz, who was running in fourth place, was said to be distraught at the incident and Ford later withdrew its drivers.

View of action

Describing the scene, witnesses said the injured were watching from a dangerous vantage point.

Spectator Mike Francis from Hengoed said: "People were shouting for ambulances and screaming.

"They were about 10ft back from where the cars were coming around the corner."

Sister Sara added: "I don't think they were in the right place to stand - it just didn't look safe."

The pair had been watching from the place where the 13 people were hit, but decided to move because of safety fears.

Sainz was shaken by the incident, and withdrawn from racing

John Horton of Network Q said the route instruction book for the rally course's crash site was 120 pages long.

"The safety manual for this rally is 200 pages long and every official in the rally has input into that manual," he said.

"A member of the FIA, the world governing body of motorsport, who goes through every special stage before the rally goes live.

"If he's not satisfied with all the safety precations, he has the option to recommend to the clerk of the course it is cancelled immediately."

Burns' night

Rally organisers have made the event all-ticket in recent years to reduce numbers and increase safety, although the use of isolated areas makes it difficult to stop people turning up without tickets.

Spectators are supposed to stand in designated viewing areas as the cars race by at around 100mph.

The rally, being staged for the 57th time this year, regularly draws up to 200,000 fans during the four days.

After the drama, the UK's Richard Burns won the World Rally Championship title on Sunday, despite Finland's Marcus Gronholm - last year's champion - taking the Rally of Great Britain in his Peugeot 206.