Charity mourning volunteers killed in Porsche crash on German highway

Two of the four Dutch people who died in a serious crash involving three Porsches on the Autobahn just across the German border on Sunday belonged to the foundation Dag met een lach. The foundation takes sick children for rides in sports cars, De Telegraaf reports.

The Porsches were participating in the 9Miles spring drive. 9Miles is an organization from Purmerend that organizes riding tours for people with sports cars. The drive started in Doetinchem and would go through a bit of Germany before returning to the Netherlands for lunch at a hotel near Cuijk and ending through the Veluwe.

But things went wrong just across the border on the A3. In the rain, a 32-year-old man from Voorhout lost control of his silver-gray Porsche near Elten. He and his passenger, a 37-year-old woman, ended up against the crash barrier. A 39-year-old man from Nieuwegein stopped his light blue Porsche GT4 to help the duo on the emergency lane.

That’s when disaster struck. A 56-year-old man from Waterland also lost control of his dark blue Porsche convertible and crashed into the three people on the side of the road.

According to the German police, the woman and the man who stopped to help were killed instantly. The other two men succumbed to their injuries in a hospital later in the day. “It is suspected that the wet road surface was the cause,” a police spokesperson told the newspaper. The German police currently have no indications that any of the involved drivers were speeding.

“It is terrible,” Jacco Brand of Dag met een lach told the newspaper. The 42-year-old man from Voorhout and the 39-year-old man from Nieuwegein were both volunteers at the foundation. “One of the men had recently participated in an Opkikkerdag twice. He was going to participate in ‘Make a Wish’ soon. It is tragic that they are now deceased. It is inconceivable.” The man from Nieuwegein had two children.

Another Dag met een lach volunteer also participated in the 9Miles ride. He was behind the three crashed Porsches. “I knew those men; one was a good friend of mine,” he told the Telegraaf. “You have rascals in every group who want to play with such a car, but they were not like that. Not even the driver of the third car. Each and every one of them responsible drivers. The weather did not lend itself to speeding. It was wet, and there was a lot of spray.”