Sad news arrive from Belgian heavy metal band Ostrogoth. The band announced that their former guitarist Jean-Pierre Dekeghel has died at the age of 57. He lost his battle to colon cancer.

The band released this statement: "Today Ostrogoth drummer Mario Pauwels stood beside the deathbed of his old friend Jean-Pierre Dekeghel, better known as 'Pierke'. During the seventies, Mario and Pierke played in several bands like Trash and Stonehenge, which formed the basis for Ostrogoth. Pierke was the first Ostrogoth guitarist in 1980-1981, before he handed over the guitar duties to Hans 'Sphinx' Vande Kerckhove, who also died far too early. Since 2006, Pierke fought like a lion against this terrible disease, colon cancer. He battled three times major surgery and intensive chemotherapy, but early this year, all the fighting became useless. Jean-Pierre Dekeghel was 57 years old."

Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Ostrogoth