A couple are still in a very serious condition in hospital following Saturday night’s car crash on the A1 near Hoevelaken in which their two daughters were killed.

The crash happened when the car the Hilversum family was traveling in was hit by another car travelling the wrong way up the motorway – a so-called spookrijder, or ghost driver, in Dutch.

The girls, aged 12 and 14, were killed instantly and their parents were rushed to hospital. The driver of the other car, a 19-year-old Romanian national, died later in hospital.

“This is the most terrible thing that can happen to you, as parents,” Hilversum mayor Gerhard van den Top said in a statement on the council website.

The motorway was closed in both directions for a time, causing long tailbacks.
The police are now trying to establish how the accident happened.