Several people were killed when the driver ploughed the car into the crowd at a street festival in the Canadian city of Vancouver on Saturday, local police said.
“A lot of people were killed and several others were injured,” Vancouver police posted online. “The driver is in custody.”
One witness told CTV News that he saw a black vehicle driving irregularly in the festival area just before the crowd was hit. The Vancouver Sun said thousands of people were in the area.
“We couldn’t see the driver. All we heard was Engine Rev,” food truck operator Yoseb Vardeh said in an interview with Postmedia.
“I’m just going outside the food truck, looking down the road, and there are bodies everywhere,” Vardeh said as his voice broke. “He went through the entire block and went straight down the middle.”
The incident occurred just after 8pm near East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street as members of the Philippine community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said.
The festival commemorates the anti-colonial leaders of the Philippines in the 16th century.
Police said the incident occurred shortly after 8pm local time on Saturday at a sunset in the city of Fraser district.
“Our idea lies in all the people affected during this incredibly difficult time and in the Filipino community in Vancouver,” writes Sim.
“We’re devastated by hearing about the horrifying events at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver early tonight,” Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
