Police shot at suspected people smugglers during a high-speed motorway chase which resulted in a fatal smash, according to reports.
A Dutch motorcyclist was killed and seven others were injured in crashes after a chase involving a British-registered Audi A4.
The chase began in Belgium and ended when the suspects raced across the French border near Dunkirk.
The pursuit was launched after a lorry driver discovered 17 migrants in his parked vehicle near Ostend and was threatened with a knife.
When Belgian police intervened, the suspects fled in the Audi.
Armed officers ordered the car to stop before bullets were fired as it sped along a road between Nieupoort and Oostduinkeke.
Two suspects were hit while the Audi became so badly damaged it was being driven on its wheel rims.
It eventually lost control and smashed into a lorry while emergency services dealt with an incident on the A16 motorway near Dunkirk.
The crash led to a series of pile-ups as cars attempted to swerve out of the way of vehicles.
A motorcyclist is understood to have died when he collided with a lorry.
French newspaper La Voix du Nord said all four suspects were Iraqi nationals who had threatened drivers with knives to make them carry migrants.
They were all taken to hospital.
