Military police investigate death of Dutch woman in Aruba crash

Military police are investigating the death of a 23-year-old Dutch woman after an all-terrain vehicle overturned on the Caribbean island of Aruba.

Local police initially said Kimberly van Ardenne, from Rotterdam, was driving the vehicle when the accident happened on Sunday, September 13, but her family said they had heard conflicting accounts.

Relatives have posted an appeal on Facebook appealing for witnesses to the crash, which happened at 3pm.

Two male naval officers were with Kimberly in the car at the time, one of whom was a friend she was staying with on the island.

The Dutch military police force (Koninklijke Marechaussee) said it was investigating the crash because it involved armed forces personnel. The force has pledged to “get to the bottom” of the incident.

Several tour guides are said to have witnessed the incident, according to local news website Aruba.nu, some of whom said they had seen the vehicle make a “manoeuvre” just before it overturned.

“Not a daredevil”

One family member told NOS Kimberly was not a keen driver. “You’d describe her as more of a cautious person than a daredevil. We can’t understand how this could have happened if she was behind the wheel.”

The family’s lawyer, Peter Schouten, told RTL Nieuws he was making his own enquiries on behalf of the family.

“We are investigating whether there is any question of liability, whether this is a case of reckless driving and whether anyone has made false statements,” he said.

“We already have a lot of information from social media, but we are still looking for witnesses.”

The family has asked anyone with information to contact them through the Facebook post or via Whatsapp on +31 6 40580456.