Belgium Wants UNESCO to Add its Local Fries to Heritage List

Yucel Bas prepares fries at Bas Frietjes frites stands in Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium, Dec. 4, 2014. (Reuters)
Yucel Bas prepares fries at Bas Frietjes frites stands in Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium, Dec. 4, 2014. (Reuters)
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Belgium Wants UNESCO to Add its Local Fries to Heritage List

Yucel Bas prepares fries at Bas Frietjes frites stands in Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium, Dec. 4, 2014. (Reuters)
Yucel Bas prepares fries at Bas Frietjes frites stands in Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium, Dec. 4, 2014. (Reuters)

Only people who tasted Belgian fries can understand their great appeal. Belgian fries shops want the future generations to enjoy this experience, so they have tabled a request with Flemish authorities to apply for UNESCO world heritage.

Belgian beer culture received UNESCO nomination in 2016, and fries should follow suit, said the president of a union that represents the owners of fries stands.

People take Belgian fries shops as a given, something that will never disappear. But as Bernard Lefevre, president of the union points out, more and more of the mom-and-pop stores, usually run by couples, are disappearing.

“The culture of fries is rooted in all of us. We're used to it, like a fixed value in our lives, therefore, we have to continue to protect it”, he said.

Belgium can propose a UNESCO candidate every two years, and its regions are taking turns in suggestions, according to media reports.

Flanders included fries in its list of intangible and cultural heritage in 2014, and the Flemish region will follow next year.



Double-Decker Bus Carrying Students Plunges into River in England in ‘Terrifying’ Crash

26 June 2025, United Kingdom, Eastleigh: A view of a Bluestar bus that was carrying pupils from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College after it came off the road and ended up in a river. (dpa)
26 June 2025, United Kingdom, Eastleigh: A view of a Bluestar bus that was carrying pupils from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College after it came off the road and ended up in a river. (dpa)
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Double-Decker Bus Carrying Students Plunges into River in England in ‘Terrifying’ Crash

26 June 2025, United Kingdom, Eastleigh: A view of a Bluestar bus that was carrying pupils from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College after it came off the road and ended up in a river. (dpa)
26 June 2025, United Kingdom, Eastleigh: A view of a Bluestar bus that was carrying pupils from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College after it came off the road and ended up in a river. (dpa)

A double-decker bus carrying high school students plunged into a river in southern England on Thursday, sending the driver and four teens to the hospital and leaving more than a dozen others with minor injuries, officials said.

The bus was bound for Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, a school for 16- to 18-year-olds, when it sped off a road in Eastleigh and plunged into the River Itchen. The cause of the wreck was being investigated by police and the bus company.

Police said there was no indication why the bus veered off the road. But a woman who lives nearby and heard a screeching sound and saw the bus crash through roadside barriers into the water said the driver told her he couldn’t stop.

Kelly West, who helped some of the students to safety, said the bus was going close to 60 mph (nearly 100 kph) and said it was like a scene out of "Speed," the Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock film about a bus barreling through Los Angeles.

"One of the young adults said the bus was just getting faster and faster as it came down the road and they didn’t know what he was going to do," West said. "I can well imagine they were all thinking they were going to die, quite frankly."

Inspector Andy Tester of the Hampshire Constabulary said it "must have been terrifying."

All 19 passengers on board were either able to get off the bus or were rescued, police said. The bus driver, who was trapped, and one student had serious injuries but were expected to survive.

West said the driver was alert and sharp, but panicking. She reassured him that help was on the way.

"He said the brakes failed and the accelerator was jammed and that he was trying to avoid cars," West said.

The bus was sitting upright in the river, next to a bridge, water up to its axles. Its front windows were smashed and mud was splattered on its side. A large section of bridge railing was missing.

About 14 students were treated at the scene by paramedics, the South Central Ambulance Service said. Two helicopters, five ambulances and fire crews responded to the crash.

Bluestar Bus said it did not immediately know the circumstances of the crash.