Earlier this week, Opeth's tour bus crashed into another car that made an unexpected U-turn in the middle of the highway as the band (minus Åkerfeldt, Axenrot, Äkesson who had flown home to Sweden) and their crew were on the way to Brussels/Belgium. Nobody in the band or crew got hurt, but apparently the driver of the other car got critically injured (and passed away later). Opeth will go ahead and play the Brussels date on the 17th as well as the remaining shows of the Progressive nation tour.

Guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt has issued the following: "Myself, Axe, Fredrik and our soundman, Pontus Norgren decided to fly home to our families for a few days as the option would have been three days off in Brussels. Now I hear that our bus apparently crashed into this other car making a unexpected U-turn in the middle of the highway. Mendez [bassist] and Per [keyboards] were on the bus together with the rest of our crew but nobody got hurt. They are however shocked and very shaken of course. The driver in the other car was critically injured. I've not heard back from anyone yet regarding his progress but apparently it's not looking very good. Hoping for the best however.

I don't know where or when this happened but I know the bus was heading from Dublin to Brussels. I'll let you know more as soon as I get some information, but as for now everyone in the band are safe and same with our crew. As far as I know the only injured person was the driver of the other car, which obviously is horrible enough! To be honest, I rarely think about things, accidents like this, but fuck man, it happens! My mind's all over the place and right now I don't want to go back out. But... the show in Brussels on the 17th and the remaining part of the tour will go ahead as planned."

But now it appears that the Opeth bus accident was actually the result of a suicide: their tour bus crashed into a driver aiming to take his own life. Mikael Åkerfeldt explains: "I just got a text from [Martin] Mendez who says that the driver of the other car (who made the U-turn) that our bus crashed into, sadly passed away from his injuries. On top of that it seems as if it was a deliberate death-stunt from his side as the police had found a suicide-letter in the car-wreck.

This is just getting more odd and scary, I tell ya. I've no idea who he was but I have to say our condoleances goes out to his family and loved ones anyways either though we don't have a name at this point. I'm kinda lost for words here."

Source:	opeth.com
Band profile:	Opeth