Mother, young boys hospitalized after car flies off rural road, overturns in canal
A 31-year-old woman and her two young children were hospitalized Friday morning after their car veered off the road, and landed upside-down in a watery canal. At least two of the victims involved were resuscitated at the scene, police said. Their condition was not released.
The boys involved in the crash were identified as an 11-month-old and his brother, who is 2 years of age. The three are from Nieuwendijk, just five kilometers west of where the accident happened on Poortweg, a rural road between the villages of Uitwijk and Almkerk, in the municipality of Altena, Noord-Brabant.
It was not immediately clear when the accident happened, but passersby spotted the overturned vehicle in the water and immediately alerted emergency services around 10:30 a.m. Three bystanders jumped into the canal to assist, attempting to free the trapped occupants. Workers from a nearby paving company also joined the rescue effort with a small crane which they used to lift the car. Police could not say if firefighters or the bystanders rescued the mother and her sons from the car.
Authorities also would not say which of the two occupants in the car were revived at the scene. One child was airlifted to a hospital via a trauma helicopter. The mother and her other child were taken by ambulance under police escort to the hospital. “The exact duration the vehicle was in the water is unknown,” the police said, adding that traffic specialists are investigating the cause of the crash. Initial reports indicate that the car went straight into the water while navigating a gentle curve.
Although the cause of the accident was not released, the incident happened during a morning period in which much of the Netherlands was under a weather alert due to snow and slippery conditions. The air temperature was just over 2 degrees Celsius, and it was about a half-degree cooler at the surface, according to weather records from the closest meteorological station. Gusts of wind reached over 40 kilometers per hour, and there were periodic showers, hail and snow
According to police, emergency responders, including paramedics, firefighters, and officers, worked together to provide critical aid to the victims. "The quick actions of bystanders and the coordinated response from emergency services were vital in this rescue effort," a police spokesperson said.
Local witnesses described a swift and large-scale emergency response. At least four ambulances and two trauma helicopters were dispatched to the scene. The Poortweg, a small rural road, was cordoned off during the operation.
