Canada: Multiple dead, injured in Vancouver after vehicle plows into Filipino festival

Image

CANADA - Several people were killed and multiple others were injured in Vancouver after a vehicle drove into a crowd at a Filipino street festival in the western Canadian city, police said on Saturday.

Police said they were investigating a mass casualty incident and had arrested a 30-year-old Vancouver man at the scene, but did not immediately give the number of fatalities or injured, saying they would have more information in the morning.

At a midnight press conference, police said that the suspect was "known" to them but did not elaborate. The man was initially taken into custody by people at the scene.

The incident happened shortly after 8 p.m. (0300 GMT) near East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street, where the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party, celebrating a Philippine national hero, was taking place.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X: "I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening."

Vancouver's Mayor Ken Sim and British Columbia Premier David Eby posted similar comments on X.

One witness told CTV News he saw a black vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was struck.

Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, was among the attendees at the event, but left minutes before the vehicle arrived, CTV News said.

"This is so horrific, I don’t even know what to say," CTV quoted Singh as saying. "I was just there, and I just imagine the faces of the kids that I saw smiling and dancing."

Canada's federal election takes place on Monday.

The Vancouver Sun said thousands of people had been in the area.

"I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev," Yoseb Vardeh, co-owner of food truck Bao Buns, said in an interview with Postmedia.

"I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there were just bodies everywhere,” said Vardeh, as his voice broke. "He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”

Source: Reuters 

Related Articles

Medvedev Says Countries Ready to Arm Iran With Nuclear Warheads After US Strikes

He added that “several countries are ready to supply Iran with their nuclear warheads directly.”

  • World

    22-06-2025

  • 11:23AM

US joins Israel in attacking Iran, strikes Fordow, Isfahan, Natanz sites

Israeli officials said that 1,272 people have been injured since the beginning of the hostilities, with 14 in serious condition.

  • World

    22-06-2025

  • 06:54AM