Belgium

A Dutch woman was killed in a traffic accident in Lavaux-Sainte-Anne, in the south of Belgium, on Wednesday afternoon. Her two daughters were seriously injured and are in critical condition, AD reports.

The accident happened at around 4:45 p.m. The woman's passenger car was hit by a truck at a crossing. According to the local authorities, the woman did not give the truck priority. The truck driver was not speeding and was not under the influence of alcohol.

Four suspects will be prosecuted for murder in connection with the downing of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) announced in a press conference on Wednesday. The trial against the four suspects will be held in the Netherlands, starting in March 2020. “We now have the information, have the proof, that the Russian Federation is involved in this tragedy, in this crime, one way or another.” Dutch Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said in the press conference. 

Customs investigators in Antwerp seized a massive amount of cocaine hidden in a rice shipment at the port there. Over three thousand kilos of cocaine was found, with an estimated street value of 150 million euros.

The drug packages, valued at 150 million euros, were found during a routine search. The shipment was likely destined for the Den Haag region, according to Dutch police. No arrests were made in the case.

A fugitive Dutch man was arrested in Spain on Wednesday. 71-year-old Leonardus 'Lei' B. was sentenced to  life in prison by a Belgian court earlier this month for the murder of his ex-wife ten years ago, RTL Nieuws reports.

In December 2009 B. shot and killed his ex-wife Josee Widdershoven in Vucht out of frustration about their divorce. He then fled. After managing to avoid the authorities for years, the Sittard-born man was finally arrested in Calpe, Spain on Wednesday. 

Four Dutch people were hospitalized after a boating accident on the Schelde in Antwerp on Friday. Two speedboats crashed into each other. A total of 20 Dutch people were injured, NOS reports.

The two speedboats, with captains, were hired by a Dutch company for its annual corporate outing. The speedboats collided shortly after departure. Multiple people ended up in the water. A diving team from the local fire brigade rescued two people from the water, the others were picked up by a water taxi, Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported.

Four hikers were caught by the rising tide off the coast of the Zeeland village o Renesse on Thursday. A 45-year-old woman from Vilvoorde, Belgium, drowned. Her two children aged 17 and 8, and a 23-year-old woman from Renesse were injured, NOS reports.

The Dutch woman and her three dogs, and the Belgian woman and her son and daughter were walking on Verklikkerstrand when they got stuck on a sandbank by the rising tide. According to the police, they did not know each other. 

Three people were found dead in a shed in the Belgian town of Eksel, about 15 kilometers across the border from Weert, early on Tuesday morning. The shed was set up as a drug lab. The Belgian emergency services responded to the shed on Kiefhoekstraat after the local brigade got a tip about a strange smell from someone calling from Eindhoven, AD reports.

How the victims died is not yet clear. The fire brigade is taking measurements and samples that will be analyzed by a judicial laboratory and specialized firms.

A Landgraaf truck driver suspected of killing a "yellow vest" protester in a hit-and-run in Belgium on Friday, was released from custody. He is still a suspect, the Public Prosecutor in Liege said. The trucker is officially suspected of deliberately inflicting bodily harm without the intention of killing, NOS reports.

A truck driver from Dongen who was arrested on suspicion of killing a 'yellow vest' protester in a hit-and-run in Belgium on Friday, was not involved in the accident. The truck that hit the 50-year-old man looked identical to the truck the Dutch man drives, but turned out not to be the same vehicle, RTL Nieuws reports.

A Yellow Vests protest in Belgium briefly blocked that country's traffic from crossing the border into the Dutch city of Maastricht on Wednesday night. The blockade on the E25 highway in Voeren, Belgium, was just a few hundred meters away from the border point.

Dutch authorities assisted their Belgian counterparts in controlling the protest.

About 20 Yellow Vest demonstrators were involved. They allegedly set a fire using pallets and rubber tires, according to L1.

A total of 90 people arrested in a large international action against the Italian mafia clan 'Ndrangheta on Wednesday morning, was announced at a press conference at European judicial cooperation body Eurojust in The Hague. As part of 'Operation Pollino', the police and judiciary in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium raided various locations.