First responders got stuck in traffic on the way A1 accident in which two girls died
Firefighters responding to a fatal traffic accident on the A1 near Hoevelaken on Saturday evening got stuck in the traffic that built up behind the scene of the accident. A video posted online by the Voorthuizen fire department shows frustrated firefighters getting out of the firetruck to manually create a path through the traffic. Two girls, aged 12 and 14, died in the accident. Their father, Luuc Jonker, and mother, Roelien, were seriously hurt.
The firefighters recorded how they had to manually guide motorists out of the firetruck’s way to show how difficult it is to find a way through the traffic, a spokesperson for the local safety office, Veiligheidsregio Gelderland-Midden, told Omroep Gelderland.
“We do not disapprove of sharing this video because it clearly shows how difficult it is for an emergency vehicle to get to the scene of an incident,” the spokesperson said. “We hope that people realize that you have to make room for emergency vehicles. For the fire brigade, ambulance, and police.”
The accident happened at around 10:10 p.m. on the A1 highway between Barneveld and Amersfoort, near the Hoevelaken junction. A 19-year-old man from Romania was driving his passenger car on the wrong side of the highway and crashed head-on with the Jonker family’s car.
The two girls were killed, and their parents were seriously injured. The Romanian man died in the hospital shortly after the accident.
The father in the accident is Luuc Jonker, the director of the Dudok Architecture Center in Hilversum, the organization confirmed on its website. “It is such a terrible reality,” chairman Irmgard van Koningsbruggen said. “The heaviness of the sadness is difficult to comprehend. Luuc, Roelien, and both their daughters are constantly in our thoughts.”
Luuc and Roelien’s current condition is unknown. Van Koningsbruggen said that the organization would share more information once it becomes available. The Dudok Architecture Center is the center for urban architecture, urban planning, and spatial heritage in Hilversum. The center organizes guided tours of the Town Hall, excursions in the city, and debates, lectures and events.
The two girls attended the Comenius College in Hilversum. The school mourned their passing on Monday. “We wrote. Talked. Listened. Drew,” rector Robert van de Sijde told RTL Nieuws. “There is no playbook for this.” He called the togetherness heart-warming. “With 200 people coming together to share sorrow, to grieve, and to reminisce.”
Hilversum mayor Gerhard van den Top also attended the commemoration at the school. “I have great admiration for the school staff, how they gave room to the students who came to school with a stone on their heart, and at the same time tried to pick up the rhythm of the days. Very impressive,” he told RTL.
