At least four people have died after ramming a vehicle into a group that was celebrating the carnival this morning in the town of Strépy-Bracquegniessouth of Belgiumreported the French-speaking channels RTBF and RTL.
The local police lowered the initially given figure of five deaths to four, and also reported seven seriously injured and 15 slightly, according to the RTBF. The police have two suspects arrested after the outrage, the people who were traveling in the vehicle involved. The mayor of the city, Jacques Gobert, activated the disaster plan.
“A car that I was going full speed he overwhelmed the crowd that had gathered to watch Gilles’s pickup. The driver continued on his way, but we intercepted him”, indicated the alderman in statements collected by the newspaper “Le Soir”.
According to witnesses, around 5:00 (4:00 GMT) a vehicle “emerged from nowhere” ran over several dozen people who accompanied a group of Gilles, a traditional character of the Binche carnival (whose celebration has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO) and other towns in southern Belgium
They arrived at the place eight ambulances to help the injured and the city’s sports center has been set up as an emergency center, in which a cell of psychologists attends to the people who attended this carnival celebration.
“There are no words, it’s horror. Arriving at the scene some time after the catastrophe, seeing those bodies scattered on the road, people suffering… You cannot imagine that this could exist and, unfortunately, that is what is happening. There are no words, it is dramaticGobert said.
The RTL presenter Fabrice Collignon, who was participating in the celebrations, reported that the group, of about 150 people according to him, was making its way through the city when suddenly “we heard a big noise coming from the rear and the car literally crashed into the group of people.”
“It was a scene I never thought I’d see in my life. The car accelerated and when we realized that something was happening, everyone was on the ground. People shouted. There was music and smiles and three seconds later, screams. It was horrible,” she described.
The Belgian Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden, has contacted the mayor, among other things, to find out if a terrorist attack can be ruled out. The Prosecutor’s Office will organize a press conference throughout the morning to report on the event.
Source: Lasexta
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