Rogue Monster Truck Kills 3

Small-town event injures 23 in Netherlands
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 29, 2014 9:16 AM CDT
Rogue Monster Truck Kills 3
A screenshot from Reuters video of the show.   (Reuters video)

A monster truck rally in the Netherlands ended in tragedy when three people, including a child, were killed by a runaway vehicle, the BBC reports. The 1,500-horsepower truck "drove into a crowd of spectators" in what officials call "a terrible accident." Eighteen people were reported injured, and five more are in critical condition in the hospital. Police say the driver, who failed to brake after driving over a series of cars, has been arrested, Reuters reports.

In video of the accident, which contains disturbing images, the truck revs up after performing the stunt, the AP reports. It turns—suddenly, as the BBC notes—and plows through a guardrail. An organizer tells local news that he thinks the truck had a brake failure or its gas pedal got jammed. The crowd was at a safe distance behind a fence, he says. The event occurred in the small town of Haaksbergen, nltimes.nl reports. "A lovely, festive afternoon ended in drama,” says a local official. "This is a disaster for Haaksbergen." (More Monster truck stories.)

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