Queen's Day 2009 has ended in a tragedy. At 11:50am some crazy person drove a Suzuki Swift straight into the crowd when he tried to ram the bus carrying the royal family and Queen Beatrix in it. So far it seems that 14 people have been wounded and 1-4 people possibly died. The driver of the car has survived the crash and has been taken from wreck to be questioned by police. A witness has declared that the car was following the trail of the bus, so it seems it was no accident. News is sketchy at the moment, but this is a national tragedy.
I am so shocked. I can not believe that some mindless asshole had the guts to do this. There have never been any incidents of this kind during the 29 years we are celebrating Queen's Day. The worst thing that happened in the past was someone throwing an egg or holding some dumb sign.
As a result almost all Queen's day festivities in the Netherlands are cancelled.
Queen's Day always was one big national party. It will never be the same now :-(
Breaking news:
Around 11:50 in the morning, just before the bus with the royal family made its last turn towards the Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, a black older model Suzuki Swift crashed through the audience and came to rest against a monument, just missing the bus carrying the royal family. It's still unknown whether this was an accident or a genuine attack on the Royal Family. Fourteen people, including the driver of the car, are reported injured and are rushed to the hospital. Two people are reported dead.
The driver, a male, who was rescued by the Fire Department was arrested. The car was examined by the anti-terrorist department and the local police. This search was conducted with live TV viewing.
At 12:15 the National Holiday program was cancelled in light of the tragedy. The TV central mentioned at 12:52 that there was a possible fatality by the incident because a sheet had been placed over a victim and there was a medical examiner's van parked close by. At 13:30 the Dutch National Television announced there were 2 fatalities from this incident. Also, Queen Beatrix has expressed her condolences to the family and victims.
All festivities in Apeldoorn were canceled. A press conference will be held at 15:45 GMT+1
