The five people who died last night in a motorway accident in Tournai, Belgium, came from the same family. They are two people in their forties and their three children between the ages of 15 and 20. The family comes from a suburb of Tournai and was returning from a short vacation by the sea. The man, Vincent Messiaen, was a respected dentist.
According to Mayor Delannois, the five crashed on the E403/A17, at the Marquain junction. The emergency services were alerted at around 01:40 a.m. for a fire in the bushes along the road. “On the way we received a second report about a burning vehicle at the exit near the industrial zone. We immediately used a pumper, a tanker, a command vehicle, an ambulance and the mosquito,” said fire lieutenant Ratte from the Wallonia Picarde emergency area.
According to the mayor, only one car was involved in the accident on the E403/A17. I was coming from Kortrijk and driving towards Tournai. Images from the French channel RTL Info show that the car was completely burned.
No skid marks
The driver reportedly lost control of his vehicle, but what exactly happened must be investigated. In any case, no skid marks were observed at the scene. The car hit a guardrail on the right hand side of the road, then hit a second guardrail and was catapulted into the trees on the shoulder. Then the car caught fire. The couple could not get out of the car and burned to death, the three teenagers being thrown from the vehicle.
The Messiaen family lived less than fifteen minutes from the crash site. The road was closed until 7 in the morning. Father Vincent is a dentist and has his practice in the center of Tournai. He also committed to the local volleyball club.
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