The westbound carriageway of the E40 motorway was completely blocked for several hours on Tuesday morning after a multi-vehicle pile up between the Erpe-Mere and Wetteren intersections in East Flanders. By 8.30am the motorway had reopened. However, motorists could still expect to wait 3 hours in the traffic jam that resulted from its earlier closure.
The accident happened shortly before 8am and involved a total of 8 vehicles. 3 people were slightly injured and 5 vehicles had to be towed away.
It took a considerable time for the traffic to clear. Motorists that had sought an alternative route and had taken the N9 trunk road faced delays of around 2 hours as traffic tailed back to Aalst.
The precise circumstances surrounding the accident are still unclear.