Six dead after truck ploughs into community barbecue in Netherlands

Accident has deeply affected tight-knit community, where ‘many attendees know each other’

At least six people have died and another seven are in hospital after a truck came off the road and crashed into a community barbecue event near Rotterdam, Dutch police said on Sunday.

Police said that the accident occurred on Saturday evening in the village of Nieuw-Beijerland, Zuid-Holland.

Local reports added that authorities had brought in the driver of the vehicle, who was unharmed during the accident, for further questioning.

Police spokeswoman Mirjam Boers said the 46-year-old truck driver, a Spanish man, was not inebriated at the time of the accident.

The truck was being driven down a small rural road when the vehicle suddenly careened down a dike and crashed into a village gathering, trapping several people underneath.

The English-language NL Times reported that the accident had deeply affected the community, where “many attendees know each other”.

It was reported that local authorities deployed several ambulances and helicopters at the site of the tragedy.

The mayor of the Hoeksche Waard in the western Netherlands, Charlie Aptroot, spoke with the family of the victims. He told the media that the family members and neighbours in the “tight-knit community” were crushed. “Our greatest concern is with the people involved,” he said.