Driver Turns Himself in After Hitting 4 at Netherlands’ Largest Music Festival

Reuters
6/18/2018
Updated:
6/18/2018

A van struck four people at the Netherlands’ largest music festival, Pinkpop, around 4 a.m. on Monday, June 18. The van killed one and injured the other three before driving off, according to police.

The van driver handed himself into Amsterdam police hours later. He will be transferred later in the afternoon to the Limburg province, where the incident took place, according to the Dutch police chief for South West Limburg sector, Hans Van Den Heuvel.

Police is seen near an incident scene where a van struck into people after a concert in Landgraaf, the Netherlands June 18, 2018. (Reuters/Thilo Schmuelgen)
Police is seen near an incident scene where a van struck into people after a concert in Landgraaf, the Netherlands June 18, 2018. (Reuters/Thilo Schmuelgen)

The suspect is a 34-year-old Dutchman from the city of Heerlen.

“This investigation is still underway and we cannot say whether this was something intentional or an accident,” said police spokesman Hub Haenen.

The victims, three men and a woman, were all from either Heerlen or neighboring Landgraaf, where the concert took place. The victim who died was a 35-year-old man from Heerlen.

Visitiors leave the festival grounds as police are seen near a scene where a van struck into people after a concert in Landgraaf, the Netherlands June 18, 2018. (Reuters/Thilo Schmuelgen)
Visitiors leave the festival grounds as police are seen near a scene where a van struck into people after a concert in Landgraaf, the Netherlands June 18, 2018. (Reuters/Thilo Schmuelgen)

Police said the white van struck four hours after the headline act where R&B artist Bruno Mars had performed in front of 70,000 people.

Pinkpop is traditionally the country’s largest music festival, held in Landgraaf, a small town near the German and Belgian borders, 220 kilometers (140 miles) southeast of Amsterdam. A sold-out crowd came to see Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, and others. Mars closed out the concert shortly before midnight.

Terrorists have driven vehicles into crowds of people in attacks in London, Berlin, Barcelona and other European cities in recent years.

A police statement said the street where the incident took place, one of two exits from the concert grounds, had been closed for forensic investigation.

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