A British boy aged 12 was killed and five other members of his family including his twin were injured when a BMW crashed off a Belgian motorway.
The accident involving the boy and the family happened on the E40 highway near Veurne, West Flanders, at around 1am on January 8 while en route to the French border, according to Belgian media.
The family’s BMW X5 with a British number plate reportedly lost control and ended up crashed on its roof between the motorway and an exit road.
Local police said in a statement about the accident: ‘There were a total of six occupants in the car. One of them, a 12-year-old boy with British nationality, was thrown out of the vehicle and died of his injuries.’
Investigators are probing whether poor weather and an ‘unadjusted speed’ caused the crash, the local prosecutor’s office said.
The boy was reportedly one of four children in the car, which also included his twin brother.
While four family members reportedly suffered only minor injuries, one person was seriously injured, but is understood not to be in a life-threatening condition. All five are being treated in hospital.
The British family involved in the crash has not yet been named, but the Jewish Chronicle reports that the boy attended Menorah Grammar School in Edgware, London.
The accident involving the boy and the family happened on the E40 highway near Veurne, West Flanders, at around 1am on January 8 while en route to the French border, according to Belgian media
The family’s BMW X5 with a British number plate reportedly lost control and ended up crashed on its roof between the motorway and an exit road
No one witnessed the crash and the police was only called thanks to the BMW’s automatic emergency alert system, local media reports.
‘The first findings show that the poor weather conditions and aquaplaning on the road, in combination with an unadjusted speed, may be the causes of the accident,’ the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
‘No other vehicles were involved in the accident. The investigation is continuing.’
The family was reportedly returning from Antwerp when the accident happened near Veurne. The exit to the city was closed for several hours following the incident.
The boy’s tragic death comes just two weeks before he was due to celebrate his bar mitzvah with his twin brother, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
His classmates at Menorah Grammar School reportedly reacted ‘in different ways’ to the news of his death, the newspaper reports.
In an email sent to parents on January 9, the school alerted parents of the passing ‘of a very dead talmid [student]’.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
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