Six people died and another ten were critically injured yesterday when a car travelling at high speed rammed into a crowd getting ready for a carnival parade in a Belgian village.
More than 150 people, including children, had gathered at 4.30am in Strépy-Bracquegnies, about 25 miles southwest of Brussels. Some witnesses said the driver had made no attempt to brake, instead accelerating into the group and turning to hit more people after running over the first victims. Two of the car’s occupants, both men in their early thirties, were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Prosecutors said there were “no indications” that it was a terrorist attack.
King Philippe and Alexander de Croo, the prime minister, visited the village to pay their respects to the victims. One witness told RTL Info: “We didn’t even see it coming. We were not far from the group of people and we saw [the car] drive into them. Then it turned around and hit people. This was not an accident.”