Two adults and three teenagers were killed early on Thursday in the Walloon province of Hainaut, according to the Picardy Wallonia rescue zone.
The incident occurred on the Marquain interchange between the A8 and A17 motorways, near Tournai. Emergency services were alerted to a brush fire along the motorway at 01:40. En route to the scene, the rescue workers were made aware of another incident nearby.
Response services stated that they then received further information about a vehicle that was on fire at the level of the motorway exit located near the industrial zone. A pump, tank truck, command vehicle, ambulance, and rapid-response vehicle, were mobilised as a result.
Rescue workers finished extinguishing the burning vehicle at around 07:00. The vehicle was registered in Belgium.
According to a sequence of events provided by the mayor of Tournai, Paul-Olivier Delannois, the vehicle was travelling to Tournai from Mouscron. The accident took place at the interchange between the Tournai-Lille and Tournai-Bruge motorways, near the Tournai West industrial zone.
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"The driver left his trajectory for an undetermined reason and hit the barrier on the right," Delannois told local media. "Following this loss of control, he hit a second barrier, and literally flew into the trees on the side, before catching fire."
A forensic victim identification service was dispatched to the scene. Three bodies have now been identified and are believed to be a Tournai dentist and his family. A police road incident specialist was requested and found no evidence of any attempt at braking, nor the involvement of another vehicle.
