By Simon Tomlinson PUBLISHED: 08:27 EST, 10 January 2013 | UPDATED: 02:48 EST, 11 January 2013 Three British men including two former soldiers have been badly injured in a crash in South America as they were taking part in what is billed as the world's toughest rally. A spokesman for the Race2Recovery team said a support vehicle the three team members were travelling in during the Dakar Rally was involved in a head-on collision in Peru which is believed to have left two other people dead. The three men, who are part of a team of injured soldiers taking part in the challenge, were named as Justin Birchall, 40, a team driver and civilian volunteer from Burnley, Lancashire, whose Wildcat vehicle retired earlier in the race, former Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer and Gulf War and Falklands war veteran Lee Townsend, a team mechanic, from Yate near Bristol, and retired Army Major John Winskill, 42, the team logistics expert, who is from Durrington, near Salisbury, Wiltshire.
@highlight
Race2Recovery members injured in head-on crash which killed two others
@highlight
Named as Falklands veteran Lee Townsend, retired Major John Winskill, 42, and civilian volunteer Justin Birchall, 40
@highlight
Airlifted to hospital where they are all described as 'stable and conscious'
@highlight
Rally, described as the world's toughest, began in Lima, Peru on Saturday
'Our entire team has been struck by the friendliness and support we have received from the @placeholder people since arriving for the Dakar Rally.'