Two dead after serious accident with wrong-way driver on A12 in Meise, third person in danger of life: “He stopped to urinate against the central reservation”

The accident happened on Friday evening around 8.50 pm in the direction of Antwerp, approximately near the Cockaert furniture store. According to a witness, who narrowly avoided the wrong-way driver, five vehicles were involved. Two vehicles reportedly ended up on their roofs, one caught fire.

“The wrong-way driver died on the spot. The female driver of a vehicle he hit and which was driving in the right direction also died,” says Gilles Blondeau of the Halle-Vilvoorde public prosecutor’s office. A passenger in the vehicle was seriously injured and was taken to UZ Brussel in life-threatening condition.

The wrong-way driver is said to have entered the A12 in Willebroek (Antwerp) and drove against traffic towards Meise. “There he would have collided head-on with several cars,” says Gerda Van den Brande (N-VA), mayor of Meise. “The highway in the direction of Antwerp is closed, the police say. And it will remain that way for a while, because the public prosecutor’s office will be on site.”

“We were called to a vehicle fire, but on site it turned out to be a traffic accident,” says Wouter Jeanfils of the Vlaams-Brabant West Emergency Zone. “There was a head-on collision, the impact was very severe. The balance is tragic. Two people died, one person was seriously injured.”

The circumstances of the accident are not yet clear, the public prosecutor’s office has appointed an expert to investigate further. This was confirmed by both Jeanfils and Gerda Van den Brande (N-VA), mayor of Meise.

“I estimate that the work will take at least another two hours,” Jeanfils said just after 11 p.m. “The A12 will be completely closed towards Antwerp, traffic will be diverted via the Meise exit and the parallel road towards Antwerp.

“Puddles against central reservation”

Vanessa Pattyn from Wolvertem saw the wrong-way driver driving towards Brussels, just like herself, but in the wrong lane. “We saw him driving from the Londerzeel industrial estate. The wrong-way driver crossed the Londerzeel intersection there. We stopped on the hard shoulder to keep an eye on it. He stopped between Londerzeel and Imde in the third lane to urinate on the central reservation. Afterwards he apparently drove further, with all the consequences that entailed.”