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One dead, three hurt in Dutch music fest hit-and-run

By AFP
June 19, 2018

THE HAGUE: A van slammed into pedestrians near a Dutch campsite at a huge music festival early on Monday, killing one person and seriously injuring three others just hours after headline act Bruno Mars wowed tens of thousands of fans.

The four people were hit around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) Monday by the van which then fled the scene, only hours after the end of the three-day Pinkpop Festival in the southern town of Landgraaf, near the German border.

A 34-year-old man from Heerlen later gave himself up, phoning the police to say he was the driver and was arrested in Amsterdam, police told reporters, adding the white van had also been found.

“We are looking at all possible motives,” said public prosecutor, Daniele Weymar, adding that they were also investigating whether the incident was an attack, but stressing it was only “one of the scenarios” being looked at.

The dead man was identified as a 35-year-old from the southeastern town of Heerlen, close to the festival site. Two men, one aged 30 and another 26, and a 23-year-old woman, remain “very critically ill” in hospital, police said. Police cordoned off the section of the road while an investigation is under way, and a police helicopter was deployed to take aerial shots of the crash site.