Brussels avenue pile-up leaves one person seriously injured

Updated 17 August 2026, 00:21 CEST — A multi-vehicle collision on Avenue Van Praet in Brussels on Monday morning left one person seriously injured and another lightly injured, BX1 reported. Emergency services attended the scene, but the authorities had not publicly established the cause of the crash at the time of this update.

BX1 reported both casualties in its initial account of the carambolage avenue Praet. The outlet described one person as seriously injured and the other as lightly injured. A separate report by 7sur7 also confirmed that the collision caused at least one serious injury. Neither report available for this update identified those involved, and Belgium Pulse is withholding any assumptions about their ages, roles or vehicles.

The precise time of the collision, the number of vehicles involved and the hospitals receiving the injured people were not confirmed in the material reviewed by Belgium Pulse. There was also no verified public information on whether the seriously injured person’s life was in danger. Police findings on speed, impairment, mechanical failure or driver responsibility have not been published.

Avenue Van Praet is a major northern approach to Brussels near Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek. A Brussels planning study describes Van Praet and the nearby Avenue de la Reine as important entry routes for traffic arriving from the A12 and the Brussels Ring. The same official study identifies congestion at the Van Praet junction during peak periods, explaining why any obstruction there can quickly affect journeys across the north of the capital.

The City of Brussels is also planning wider changes around Van Praet. According to the city’s masterplan material, the area is intended to connect the city centre more effectively with the canal-side industrial zone while adding public facilities, housing, green space and cycling infrastructure. Those long-term plans provide geographic context, but no authority has linked the road design or redevelopment programme to Monday’s collision.

For drivers and public-transport passengers, the immediate issue is whether lanes or nearby services remain disrupted. The City of Brussels directs road users to Brussels Mobility and police traffic channels for current conditions. A police or emergency-services update is still needed to clarify the victims’ conditions, the vehicles involved, the duration of any restrictions and the sequence of events that led to the crash.