“I saw people trapped under the bus and injured people on the ground behind the bus. One of them had died.” Maurice Haaij (36) from Breda was on his way to a flea market in Antwerp with his friend around noon on Sunday when he suddenly had to provide help.
A traffic jam arose on the E19 highway near Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor. Getting closer, he saw a tour bus on its side on the other side. Maurice didn’t think twice, pulled over his car and came to the rescue.
For Maurice it was as if he had been thrown into another world from one moment to the next. “A hole had just been punched or kicked in the bus to give something of a vest to someone who was on the bus, probably the driver. At the crash barrier were people who had come out of the bus themselves. As I walked out, I heard someone screaming for help.”
“I had to help lift an injured woman out of the bus through a broken window,” says the resident of Breda. “She was covered in blood and her clothes were torn. Fortunately, she could stand by herself. That other man stayed with her.”
Meanwhile, Maurice saw that several bus passengers were trapped under parts of the overturned bus. Some emergency responders tried to put the bus upright, but they refused to do so. “Besides the fact that it didn’t work, it wouldn’t have been wise afterwards.”
Blood was now flowing over the asphalt towards the hard shoulder, says Maurice. He found three people behind the bus. One of them was no longer alive. “They were probably thrown from the bus. A woman was very seriously injured in her leg. I sat down next to it. She was in shock. Someone tied her leg with a vest. A man was sitting there and he was in tears “He didn’t know what to do. A second woman was also seriously injured. She couldn’t move. We kept her warm with a blanket.”
Shortly afterwards the emergency services arrived, quickly followed by ambulances. “I pointed out to the doctors where the deceased passenger and the seriously injured were.” After that, the rescue of the serious bus accident quickly started. Some emergency responders were in tears. “I went to my car and drove back to Breda with my friend.”
Once home, the realization came. “I had blood on my clothes. My shoulders hurt, probably from lifting the injured woman out of the bus. I talked to my friend about it. When I see an accident, I always stop. See if someone can help You wouldn’t wish that on anyone. People are traumatized by this. Not only those involved, but also the motorists who saw the accident happen.”
Maurice was able to sleep, although it was difficult to fall asleep. “The worst images came over again. The people were trapped under the bus and the passengers behind the bus. Two of them are still fighting for their lives. It gets stuck in your head. I’m glad I helped If I had continued driving and later heard how intense it was, I would have felt enormously guilty.”
A 17-year-old French woman and a 29-year-old Colombian were killed in the accident. Thirteen occupants of the bus are still in hospital, including the slightly injured driver. Five injured are still fighting for their lives and five others also have serious injuries. The bus was carrying thirty passengers, mostly French. There were no Dutch on board.
The Belgian Public Prosecution Service wants to prosecute the driver of the crashed bus for, among other things, driving under the influence and culpable homicide. The 35-year-old Frenchman had used drugs, the OM thinks.