Police secure the area after an incident at a carnival in Strepy-Bracquenies, Belgium on Sunday. A car drove at high speed into a crowd, killing six people and injuring 10 others with life-threatening injuries.
Olivier Mathys / AP
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Olivier Mathys / AP
Police secure the area after an incident at a carnival in Strepy-Bracquenies, Belgium on Sunday. A car drove at high speed into a crowd, killing six people and injuring 10 others with life-threatening injuries.
Olivier Mathys / AP
A car rammed at high speed into Festival revelers in a small town in southern Belgium early Sunday morning, authorities said, killing six people and injuring 10 others. life-threatening injuries, many others suffered minor injuries.
Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden said: “What should have been a great party turned into a tragedy.
The prosecutor’s office, which gives the death toll, also said two locals in their 30s were arrested at the scene in Strépy-Bracquegnies, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Brussels. Prosecutors said that in the early stages of the investigation, there were no elements to suspect a terrorist motive.
According to a long tradition, Festival revelers gathered at dawn, intending to pick up others at their homes along the way, to finally celebrate their famous festival once more later. when it was banned for the past two years to combat the spread of COVID-19. Some wear colorful costumes with bells attached, following the beat of the drums. It is supposed to be a rescue day.
Instead, mayor Jacques Gobert said, “what happened turned it into a national disaster.”
More than 150 people of all ages gathered around 5 a.m. and formed a dense crowd along a long straight road. “A car was coming from behind at high speed,” Gobert said. “And we had a few dozen people injured and unfortunately several people died.”
The driver and the second were arrested when their vehicle stopped a few hundred meters (meters) away.
Ever since Belgium suffered the twin terror attacks in Brussels and Zaventem that left 32 civilians dead six years ago, thoughts of terrorist motives have never been more distant.
But prosecutor Damien Verheyen said there was “no element in the investigation at this time that would allow me to consider that either’s motives could be terrorism-related.”
The prosecutor’s office also denied media reports that the crash could have been caused by a vehicle being chased by police.
King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo are expected to visit Strépy-Bracquegnies the following Sunday to express their support for the families of those killed and those injured.
Carnivals are extremely popular in the area. The Carnival celebrations in nearby Binche have even been designated an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.
