It is with great sadness that people react to the terrible accident that happened to a 65-year-old resident of Geldrop at the Highland Games in Geldrop. He was hit by a heavy metal ball that was thrown incorrectly and accidentally ended up over the hedge into an adjacent flower field, where the victim was just walking.
Chairman Adri Geerts of the organizing Foundation Village Marketing Geldrop-Mierlo was very touched by the accident. “We are flabbergasted that something like this can happen. You do not expect it, it is the biggest disaster that can happen to us all. We are devastated.”
“Our condolences go out to the bereaved”
“I feel super involved with the event and all the people who are there,” he continues. “That someone then dies in an accident, that makes me super sad”. Deputy Mayor Hans van de Laar is also visibly affected. “We are all very impressed by this terrible accident. Our condolences go out to the bereaved.”
How the accident could have happened is a guess for Van de Laar. “The bullet ended up in the flower field next to the playing field, in a crooked line. The victim was probably walking there, because the terrain was freely accessible,” said the deputy mayor. Geerts of the organization also does not dare to make any statements about how it could have happened: “it is being investigated by the police and we will have to wait for that.”
The police, together with the municipality, are examining whether a permit would have been required for the event. The organization had not applied for it now, because it was assumed that the permanent event permit of the Geldrop Castle Estate would be sufficient, according to a spokeswoman for the municipality. She points out that the organizer Highland Games Federation Netherlands (HGFN) has experience with these types of competitions. HGFN chairman Tommy de Bruijn denies to Omroep Brabant that they have organized the event “We are just a group of friends who like to deal with highland games.”
“The participants are completely off the map”
For the men who participated in the Highland Games, it is a traumatic experience. Geerts: “They are really completely upside down. Under the guidance of victim support, they sat down together to support each other, but they are completely upset.”
Understandably, things are not going well for the man who hit the bullet over the hedge, says Geerts. “I have not spoken to him myself, but he is completely beside himself, this should never have happened to him. They are players who practice this game at a high level and with a lot of experience and who are extremely experienced, but then there can apparently be an accident to happen.”
The municipality has not yet contacted the next of kin. “The police have not yet released who it is, so I just don’t know, but our condolences go out to them,” said the deputy mayor.
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