Those travelling by car to the coast face delays of as much as two hours. Already heavy traffic on the E40 motorway and E34 expressway has been made work by two accidents. An accident on the E40 at Drongen, near Ghent (East Flanders) had led to two lanes on the coastbound carriageway being closed to traffic. Meanwhile, on the E34 expressway that links Antwerp with Knokke (West Flanders) an accident has caused the closure of the road tunnel at Zelzate (East Flanders).
The Zelzate Tunnel on the E34 in East Flanders is closed to coastbound traffic after a vehicle caught fire. Initially smoke from the fire also closed the Antwerp-bound tunnel but this has since reopened.
The fire has been extinguished, but the vehicle still has to be towed away and the road surface cleared and inspected. VRT News’ traffic expert Hajo Beeckman says that hundreds of vehicles are stuck just ahead of the tunnel. The police are distributing water to those that are stuck.
Meanwhile, on the E40 motorway a multi-vehicle pile-up has resulted in the closure of two of the three lanes on the coastbound carriageway at Drongen, near Ghent (East Flanders). 7 vehicles were involved in the pile-up. 5 vehicles were so badly damaged that they need to be towed away. There are delays of 1.5 hours for motorists heading for the coast.