Fries bakers Franky van Hintum (53) from Helmond and Coen van Oosten (49) from Waspik were injured in a rocket attack in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. The two were eating in a restaurant when the rocket hit. At least two people were killed in the attack. “It was so hard.”
A video that Franky and Coen share on Twitter shows how great the panic is on the street. The streets are littered with rubble and there are large clouds of smoke over them. You can also hear how the air raid alarm and several sirens sound.
There is great panic among the people of Brabant themselves. “We were at an attack,” says Franky. “Suddenly we heard that bomb. So loud. We were able to get away, but people are certainly dead. There is no other way.”
A moment later he turns to Coen. He appears with blood on his neck, but he quickly indicates that it belongs to someone else. “Did you see that baby?” When Coen then indicates that he wants to go back to the site of the attack to help people, Franky talks him out of it. “We’re not going that way. There may be one more.”
Never before so extreme
The two themselves were not seriously injured. In talk show Renze, they told via a live connection that they mainly have some abrasions and cuts on their hands, arms and head. Their car was also badly damaged.
Franky and Coen have regularly been at the front since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. There they bake fries for the victims, among other things.
In their report last week, the men wrote that they had not yet experienced the war as extreme as it is now. For example, they were already in a neighborhood in Kramatorsk, which was previously hit by a rocket. “Houses have been completely swept away.”