6 dead, multiple injured after car drives through crowd in Belgium

A car plowed into a crowd of Belgian carnival performers as they prepared for a parade early Sunday, killing six people and seriously wounding 10 others.

Twenty-seven other people were also injured, according to Belgium news outlet RTBF.

“At this stage, there are no elements to suggest that the attack had a terrorist motive,” prosecutor Damien Verheyen said during a news conference, according to Reuters.

Between 150-200 people gathered in Strépy-Bracquegnies, about 30 miles south of Brussels, as they prepared for the annual carnival early on Sunday. 

“A car drove from the back at high speed,” the mayor of the neighboring town of La Louviere Jacques Gobert said, Fox News reported. “And we have a few dozen injured and unfortunately several people who are killed.”

The car was later stopped and the two drivers were detained. The drivers were reportedly local people in their mid-30s and were not known to police previously. 

A reception was organized for the families of the deceased and Gobert requested the folk societies to stop the carnival festivities, RTBF reported.

“What should have been a great party turned into a tragedy,” Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden said, according to Fox.