In the morning of 20 March 2022, a motorist drove a car through a crowd celebrating Carnival in Strépy-Bracquegnies, La Louvière,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Six people were killed and around 40 were wounded, with ten of the wounded people having very serious or even potentially fatal injuries. A crowd of 150–200 people were parading towards the centre of the village, dressed up in costumes in celebration of the Christian festival of Carnival when the car collided with the crowd in the ''rue des Canadiens''. A TV presenter said that the vehicle "deliberately entered" the crowd, killing several people. After crashing into the crowd, the car, which was carrying two people, sped off from the scene; later being stopped by police. Six people in total were killed, including Frédéric d'Andrea, a steward for the

RAAL La Louvière Royal Association Athlétique Louviéroise La Louvière, abbreviated to RAAL La Louvière, is a Belgian association football club located in La Louvière, in the province of Hainaut. The club, founded in 2009 out of a merger, plays in the Belg ...

football club. Police denied early reports that the vehicle had been engaging in a "high-speed chase" by police at the time. While a terrorist motive was ruled out, whether or not it was intentional was at first unclear. Prime Minister

Alexander De Croo Alexander De Croo (born 3 November 1975) is a Belgian politician and businessman who has served as the prime minister of Belgium since October 2020. De Croo was born in Vilvoorde, Flemish Brabant, and studied business engineering at the Vrij ...

said he was shocked by the incident and responded to it as "horrible news", and travelled to the village with Philippe of Belgium that day. French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed his sorrow and expressed empathy to Belgium. The driver was charged with manslaughter a few days later. He confessed he had exceeded the

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expre ...

when the crash occurred, and insisted that what had happened was an accident. Investigation indicated that the driver had been going 160 km/h while under the influence and using his mobile phone.

Fatal Victims

* Mario Cascarano, (56 years old) * Michelina Imperiale (54 years old) * Salvatore Imperiale (56 years old) * Fred Cicero * Laure Gara (49 years old) * Frederic D'andrea (40 years old)

References

{{Road incidents in 2022 Strepy-Bracquegnies car crash 2022 road incidents in Europe History of Hainaut La Louvière Strepy-Bracquegnies car crash Road incidents in Belgium Carnival