Two people died and five are in critical condition on Sunday after a French BlaBlaCar tourist coach crashed on a highway in northern Belgium, Belgian federal police Sandra Eyschen and local authorities said. Twenty-two other passengers were injured more lightly, according to the police.
The bus is registered in France, but the police could not immediately confirm that the victims, all on board the bus, were French, Belgian federal police spokeswoman Sandra Eyschen said.
The circumstances are not known
The accident occurred at midday in the province of Antwerp near the locality of Schoten, and whose circumstances are not known, according to the same source. The section of the motorway where the accident occurred, towards Breda (Netherlands), was closed to traffic. The red BlaBlaCar bus is lying on its side, windshield broken, according to photos of the accident during which it would have deviated from its trajectory and hit the concrete rail bordering the motorway.
The driver of the French coach was arrested following a positive narcotics test, according to the Antwerp prosecutor’s office, quoted by Belga. The 35-year-old man, who underwent a saliva test, is of French nationality, according to the same source.