| Harvey Specter | 05-01-2009 12:20 AM |
5 dead after car drives through spectators in attack on Dutch royal family
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...n?size=620x400 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uGa23kzuhk Quote:
Five people were killed Thursday when a car ploughed into spectators at a parade in Holland in what appeared to be an attempted attack on the Dutch royal family.
A speeding black Suzuki appeared to target the open-top bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family through the town of Apeldoorn, about 95 kilometres from Amsterdam, during Queen’s Day festivities.
Members of the royal family clutched their hands to their mouths in shock as the car sped through a barricade in front of their bus.
Princess Maxima, the wife of the heir to the Dutch throne, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, leapt from her seat and looked on in horror as the car hurtled through crowds of bystanders, killing three men and two women and injuring 14 other people. No one in the queen’s entourage was hurt.
Witnesses said the vehicle was travelling at up to 100 km/h and missed the royal bus by less than five metres.
It eventually crashed into railings at the foot of a stone monument, where it came to a halt, its hood crumpled.
The driver, who was slumped against his seat with blood on his forehead, was pulled from the wreckage of the car, then arrested and taken to hospital, where he was due to be treated and questioned.
Meanwhile, police and members of the public desperately tried to help the injured. One bystander could be seen kneeling over one of the victims, pumping his chest and administering first aid.
Up to eight of the injured were in a serious condition, hospital officials said.
Peter von de Vorst, a journalist, said witnessing the incident was like watching a disaster film.
“It was a really nice day. Then you hear a bang. Everyone looks up and you see people flying through the air. This must be a joke or a strange prank. Then suddenly panic, and you realize that something really terrible has happened,” he said.
Investigators used a sniffer dog to examine the car for explosives, then cut off the roof for a closer inspection. The driver, a white 38-year-old Dutchman, had reportedly lost his job as a security officer a few months ago and was about to be evicted from his apartment in the town of Huissen, near Utrecht, because he could no longer pay the rent.
“He was Driver ‘a normal, polite man who lived a very quiet and secluded life,’ recently unemployed,” a neighbour said.
Public prosecutors said they believed the driver had acted intentionally.
One, Ludo Goossens, told a news conference: “From initial contact with police before the suspect was removed from the car . . . we have reason to believe it was a deliberate action.”
Hours after the midday attack, a visibly upset Queen Beatrix issued a message of condolence broadcast on national television channels.
She said: “What began as a great day has ended in a terrible tragedy that has shocked us all deeply. We are speechless that something so terrible could have happened. My family, and I think everybody in the country, sympathize with the victims, their families and friends and all who have been hit so hard by this accident.”
Hundreds of thousands of Dutch people had taken to the streets wearing orange wigs to celebrate Queen’s Day, which commemorates the birthday of Queen Beatrix’s mother, the late Queen Juliana.
The Dutch ministry of royal affairs announced the suspension of festivities in Apeldoorn following the incident. Celebrations in Rotterdam were also cancelled, while those in Amsterdam were scaled back.
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