Three killed at TT

The official TT Web site named the rider as 34-year-old Briton Marc Ramsbotham, a married man and newcomer to the event.

One spectator died at the scene of the accident, the 26th milestone on the mountain course, and another later in hospital. Two more were injured.

The Norfolk rider was competing in the six-lap Senior TT (Tourist Trophy), a blue riband event watched by tens of thousands of visitors to the island as well as former champions including John Surtees and Giacomo Agostini.

An investigation was under way into the causes of the accident.

The deaths, on a circuit that before Friday had claimed 223 lives since the inaugural Tourist Trophy race of 1907, overshadowed what had otherwise been a memorable close to the festival of road racing.