two young children died and at least six others were injured Wednesday morning after a bus crashed into a kindergarten around montreal, Canadasaid police, who arrested the driver for “homicide and reckless driving.”
“We think this is deliberate, but we don’t know the reason,” Pierre Brochet, police chief of Laval, a city in the suburbs of Montreal where the day care center is located, told AFP. The 51-year-old driver, who was being questioned by police on Wednesday afternoon , had no criminal recordBrochet also said.
The vehicle crashed into the premises located in Laval, in the province of Quebec around 08:30. Two children died in the crash, while six others were taken to hospital “are out of danger,” Laval police spokeswoman Erika Landry said.
read also Father clings to the hand of his dead daughter in the rubble in Turkey
“I helped stop the driver got off the bus,” a father told Radio Canada while crying. His wife said the man was “half naked” and that they both saw him “deliberately crash into the nursery.”
The bus appeared to have crashed into the side of the day care center, which is not located near the road but near a parking lot. Part of the roof collapsed onto the front of the vehicle.
The vehicle was embedded in the side of the nursery. Photo: Anne-Sophie Thill. AFP
A large security perimeter was set up around the partially destroyed building, police from Laval, a town located in the province of Quebec, told AFP.
read also 21-year-old influencer takes care of his 15-year-old daughter and sparks controversy on social networks
A helicopter flew overhead at regular intervals, an AFP journalist noted. “It’s the older children’s class that was affected,” said a mother holding her son in her arms. “It’s a shock, many parents are in a panic because they still can’t get close to the place and their children are there.” The victims were taken to the Sainte-Justine hospital.
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said “devastated” for the incident. “I can’t imagine what the families are going through. But obviously if there is anything the federal government can do, it will be there,” he told reporters at Canada’s parliament in Ottawa.
“What a terrible tragedy this morning in Laval. There is nothing worse than being afraid of what happens to your son. My thoughts are now with the children, the parents and the employees” of the nursery, said the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, on Twitter.
read also The strange behavior of birds in Turkey minutes before the earthquake
Subscribe here to receive our newsletters on daily news, opinion, plans for the weekend and many more options directly in your email.
