Wrong-way driver eludes police, ditches car, jumps into pond and vanishes

A motorist fleeing the police got his vehicle stuck in a meadow in Itteren, near Maastricht, on Monday morning. He then abandoned his car and jumped into a nearby fish pond. He was briefly spotted, but then disappeared under water.

The emergency services brought a dive team in to search for the driver, but they had not found him as of Monday evening.

The man was first spotted when he was driving the wrong-way on the A2 near Maastricht. The police tried to stop him, but they were unable to do so.

The man managed to escape the police at an exit. Soon after, more people began reporting dangerous driving behavior in the area, with a description matching the vehicle involved in the earlier incident.

Responding police officers saw the man driving on a footpath near Bunde. When he noticed the police, he fled in his car.

Not much later, officers found the car stuck in the meadow in an area of marshy ground. The driver had left the vehicle, and appeared to have jumped into a fish pond. Officers saw him standing on an island in the middle of the fish pond. He did not respond to requests from officers.

He did walk in and out of the water, and then suddenly the man seemed to disappear under the water and was not seen again. He has been missing since. Police and emergency services started a major search in vain. For example, the fire brigade deployed divers. An air ambulance also landed in the area.

Initially, the police reported that officers chased the vehicle, but on Monday evening the police withdrew that statement. There was not a police-involved chase, they claimed.