Third child dies after Zeeland cycling accident, man arrested

A third child who was injured in a serious traffic accident in Zeeland on Thursday has died, taking the death toll to four – three children and one adult – officials have confirmed.

The group of 14, accompanied by two parents, were cycling along a bike path to a summer school camp when they were hit by a car which had left the road on a bend. Three other children remain in hospital.

The collision happened on the N290, a single carriageway road between the villages of Terhole and Vogelwaarde, in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, at around 12.30 pm.

“Everyone is very upset and in shock,” Sjoerd Sanderse from the regional education body Elevantio, which runs the De Warande school, told broadcaster NOS. “We are focusing on the children who are in hospital and their classmates.”

A 19-year-old man from the nearby town of Hulst has been arrested. Police would not say if he was the driver of the car, but said “his role in the accident is being investigated”.