- Vancouver Sun says thousands of people were in area.
- Canadian prime minister “devastated to hear” about it.
- I looked down road, there’s just bodies everywhere, says witness.
Nine people have been confirmed dead after a man drove through a crowd at last night’s Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver, police said in an X post on Sunday.
Police said multiple others were injured in the western Canadian city.
The driver has been taken into custody, police said in a post on social media platform X, without giving further details.
The incident happened shortly after 8pm (0300 GMT) near East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street, where the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party 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’s just bodies everywhere,” said Vardeh, as his voice broke. “He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”
