Vehicle ramming at Dutch music festival - 3 injured and 1 dead

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In the early morning hours of 18 June 2018 in Landgraaf, Netherlands a white, Fiat Doblo, mini-van crashed into pedestrians at around 0400 hours at the Pinkpop festival. Festival goers, had camped out throughout the three-day weekend pop festival, which had included the a number of pop acts, including Bruno Mars, Pearl Jam, and the Foo Fighters. The festival had concluded late Sunday evening and on Monday attendees were breaking camp, as their camping permit expires at 1200 hours.

Securely Travel - AlertsUSA - Netherlands Vehicle Ramming — via @AlertsUSA.com

Securely Travel was alerted to the attack by AlertsUSA.com, in the early morning hours of 18 June.

We have subsequently learned, that the driver of the van abandoned the vehicle some distance from the site of the accident and then absconded.

Later in the morning of 18 June, he turned himself in to police in Amsterdam, according to Dutch news outlet - De Telegraf (Dutch language).

De Telegraf continues in an updated piece, how the driver is a 34-year old man, from Heerlen and has legal representation.

The public prosecutor, Daniele Weymar, noted “Possible motives should be clear after interrogation.” and does not exclude the possibility that the attack was deliberate. The unidentified suspect, will be transferred from Amsterdam to Limberg during the day, and all communication, including interrogation, will be through or in the presence of his lawyer.

The Dutch news outlet, AD.nl, tells us the three surviving victims (30-year-old and 26-year-old men and a 23-year-old woman, all of South Limburg), are in critical condition in hospitals in Heerlen and Maastricht. The deceased identified as Gilles Boux de Casson, 35-years old of Heerlen was one of the many volunteers working at the concert.

Coming on the heels of the Moscow vehicle ramming attack, an incident which was caught on video, that driver appeared to have purposefully mowed down a number of individuals, including World Cup 2018 fans from Mexico, this incident had all thinking that the Landgraaf event was also intentional. Based on available information, this incident, appears to have been accidental.

What the tragic incident does tell us, is that vehicle rammings be they purposeful attacks or tragic accidents do occur, and with frequency. When we are pedestrians, we must always be alert to the possibility of a vehicle moving from the roadway to the areas where we are walking.

Can one protect themselves 100 percent? No.

What one can do, however, is lower the odds of being a victim as close to zero percent as possible, by being alert and following the advice from Larry Kaminer of Personal Safety Group contained in “3 things to consider if caught in a vehicle-ramming attack.”