Taxi driver is looking for relatives of the A4 crash victim: “Was the last person to speak to him”

Those reflections are not without reason, because the Rotterdammer witnessed the crash and the latter who exchanged words with the man. Shortly after Lissner died. “Perhaps his family also has questions,” Bram explains to NH, when asked why he is doing everything he can to trace the next of kin.

Bram has just dropped off customers at Schiphol when things go horribly wrong. Shortly after entering the A4 in the direction of Maasstad, he ends up in a ‘fairly sudden’ traffic jam at the exit Hoofddorp-Zuid. “The matrix signs (with the speed limits, ed.) had just started, I think. I stood still and the truck behind me too.”

Seconds later, he hears a huge bang behind him. “I felt the air move.” Bram jumps out of his taxi and runs to the back, past the truck. Then he sees that a car ambulance has driven into the back of the truck, and immediately realizes that something is very wrong. “A cloud of smoke came out, I immediately called 112.”

While Bram is on the line with the control room, he focuses his attention on the driver. “The motorcycle was almost at his legs,” he describes how the front of the ambulance collapsed from the impact of the blow, “and his whole face was covered in blood.” Then he realizes that the victim is still alive. “He said, ‘I’m in pain’.”

Emergency services

“Sir, stay with me, stay with me,” says Bram to the man, when he tries to prevent the victim from falling away. “I held his hand, and when I looked back I saw such a large car from the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. I shouted: ‘Stop! Stop! Help!'” Bram suspects that the KMar car was already in the area due to its proximity to Schiphol. was, and therefore was so quickly present at the accident.

As soon as the Marechaussees have got out, Bram sees that the victim is still losing consciousness and tries to detect a heartbeat with his fingers. “I think he’s gone,” I said to the Marechaussees.

Explosion hazard

The Marechaussees advise Bram to step away from the vehicle. Not only to spare him more traumatic images, but also because of the risk of explosion. “Liquid was leaking from the car,” he says. Bram sees from a distance how the police and ambulances arrive at the scene of the accident. “Then a white cloth went over the man.”

Because of the traumatic events, the police promise him victim support. “They were supposed to call me on Thursday, but I haven’t heard anything yet.” Still, he doesn’t think that’s the most important thing. He especially hopes to get in touch with the victim’s family. “I was the last person who had contact with him.”

He has searched through Facebook, among other things, but so far without results. Calls to salvage companies in the region have also yielded nothing so far. He only knows that it is a 77-year-old man from Lisse, information that the police have made public.

By telling his story, Bram still hopes to get in touch with the victim’s relatives. “Maybe they want my number to contact. He might also have been a father or grandfather.”