Several killed after driver rams into crowd at Filipino festival celebrations in Vancouver
Several people were killed after a driver plowed into a crowd at a street festival on Saturday in the Canadian city of Vancouver, local police said.
"A number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured," Vancouver Police posted on X. "The driver is in custody".
The incident happened as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day, Vancouver mayor Ken Sim posted on X.
The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada's election.
"Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time," Sim wrote.
Police said the incident happened shortly after 8pm Saturday (0300 GMT Sunday) in the city's Sunset on Fraser neighborhood.
Photos published by Canadian broadcaster CBC showed emergency crews at the scene as well as large crowds at the block party earlier Saturday.
Festival security guard Jen Idaba-Castaneto told local news site Vancouver Is Awesome that she saw "bodies everywhere".
"You don't know who to help, here or there. It's so shocking," she said.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said he was "shocked & heartbroken" by the news in a post on X.
Election season
Saturday's event featured a parade, a film screening, dancing and a concert, with two members of the Black Eyed Peas featured on the lineup published by the organisers.
"Our thoughts are with the victims and their families — and Vancouver's Filipino community," Jagmeet Singh, leader of the left-wing New Democratic Party said on X.
Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated in the Philippines in remembrance of indigenous chief Lapulapu, who led his men to defeat Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.
The deadly incident comes a year after Canadian Nathaniel Veltman was sentenced to life in prison for running down a Muslim family with his truck on the street in London, Ontario in 2021.
The ruling in Veltman's case was the first in Canada to make a link between white supremacy and terrorism in a murder case.
Canadians go to the polls Monday after an frenetic election race where candidates have wooed voters on issues including US President Donald Trump's tariffs and rising living costs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is favored to win after assuring voters he can stand up to Washington's barrage of sweeping tariffs.
His Liberal Party trailed the Conservatives by more than 20 points in most polls on January 6, the day former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his plans to resign.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Dubai Eye
4 days ago
- Dubai Eye
Discovery of wartime bombs prompts large-scale evacuation in Cologne
Thousands of people were evacuated from central Cologne in western Germany on Wednesday following the discovery of three wartime bombs, in what the city authority called the largest such operation since the end of World War II. An evacuation zone with a radius of 1,000 metres was cleared from 8:00 am (0600 GMT), impacting around 20,500 residents along with many workers and hotel guests in the city's old town and Deutz district. Three American bombs, each with impact fuses, were found during construction work on Monday in Deutz, a bustling area on the bank of the River Rhine. Bomb disposal experts plan to disarm the ordnance later on Wednesday. Unexploded bombs are often found in Germany, where many major cities sustained heavy damage during the war. The evacuation area includes one hospital, two retirement homes, nine schools, and many hotels and museums. "Everyone involved hopes that the defusing can be completed in the course of Wednesday. This is only possible if all those affected leave their homes or workplaces early and stay outside the evacuation area from the outset on that day," the city authority said in a statement. The measures caused major transport disruptions in the city of over a million people, with Germany's national rail operator warning that many trains would be diverted or cancelled. A stretch of the Rhine will be blocked off before the bomb disposal operation begins. The Rhine, which runs from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea via Cologne, is one of Europe's key waterways for the transportation of commodities such as grain and coal. Private television station RTL, whose main office is located in the evacuation zone, interrupted its morning news programme.
Dubai Eye
6 days ago
- Dubai Eye
Portuguese police launch new search for Madeleine McCann in Algarve
Portuguese police have launched a new search for Madeleine McCann in Portugal's Algarve region where the British three-year-old disappeared in 2007, following a request from German authorities, the country's investigative Judicial Police (PJ) said on Monday. In a statement, the PJ said it was executing a European Investigation Order on behalf of the public prosecutor's office in the German city of Braunschweig, which in 2022 formally identified German national Christian Brueckner as an official suspect in McCann's disappearance. It added that "a wide range of investigations, namely search warrants" would be carried out between June 2-6 in Portugal's Municipality of Lagos and all evidence seized would be handed over to Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The search for traces of the child's body will focus on an area between Praia da Luz, a civil parish belonging to Lagos, and one of the houses where Brueckner lived when McCann disappeared 18 years ago, according to news reports by CNN Portugal and German newspaper Bild. Braunschweig prosecutors told Reuters "criminal procedural measures" related to the McCann case were taking place in Portugal involving the BKA and Portuguese law enforcement, but did not provide further details. London's Metropolitan Police said they were aware of searches carried out by the BKA in Portugal, adding the force was not present there but would "support our international colleagues where necessary". German police said in June 2020 that McCann was assumed dead and that Brueckner was likely responsible. Brueckner has denied any involvement and has not been charged with any crime related to the case. The convicted child abuser and drug dealer is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve. The last search for McCann was carried out in May 2023, when the police combed an inland reservoir in the Algarve but did not find anything.
Filipino Times
6 days ago
- Filipino Times
Baby born on flight from Philippines to Korea dies before landing
A baby boy born mid-flight on a plane from the Philippines to South Korea passed away before the aircraft landed, according to the Incheon International Airport Police Corps. The baby was delivered on a Jeju Air flight that left Clark International Airport and was scheduled to land at Incheon Airport around 6:21 a.m. on Sunday. At approximately 6:44 a.m., emergency services received a report that the newborn was not breathing. Emergency responders arrived at the airport, but by then, the baby's heart had stopped. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival. The mother, a Filipino woman in her 30s, was traveling with her husband, mother-in-law, and daughter at the time of the incident. Authorities at Incheon Airport said they are investigating how the birth happened during the flight and the cause of the infant's death. Under international law, incidents occurring on a plane are handled by the country where the aircraft is registered. Since the Jeju Air flight is Korean-registered, South Korean authorities have jurisdiction over the case.
