THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Two children and an adult were killed Thursday in the rural southern Netherlands when a car struck a group of cyclists who were on a school camping trip, local emergency services said.
Four more children were seriously injured in the incident. They were taken to hospitals in the Netherlands and nearby Belgium for treatment. The dead and injured were part of a group of 14 schoolchildren and two chaperones, the Zeeland Security Region organization said in a statement.
Police are investigating the cause of the incident on a provincial road that runs between farmers’ fields near the small town of Vogelwaarde, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Amsterdam.
There was no immediate word from authorities on the driver of the car. A photo displayed on Dutch media showed a car, with its windshield smashed and hood damaged, in a field next to the road.
Such incidents involving multiple cyclists are rare in the Netherlands, where bicycle riding is woven into everyday life and almost all roads have dedicated cycle lanes.
No further details were immediately available.
