Nine people dead

Kanada

Car has driven into crowd – several dead

Astrid Larsson

Updated 12.14 | Published 06.42

Police operation in Vancouver. Photo: Rich Lam / AP

A car has driven into a crowd during a street festival in Vancouver.

Nine people have been killed and several are injured, local police say.

The driver has been arrested.

It was in the middle of the Filipino festival Lapu Lapu block party in Vancouver, Kanada, that a car drove into a crowd just after five in the morning, Swedish time.

Films from the scene show the street covered in rubble and along the sides are several food trucks and party tents.

– It sounded like someone was revving an engine, but I didn't understand why because it was still full of people everywhere. It was so fucking unbelievable, says Yoseb Vardeh, who worked in a food truck at the scene, to the local newspaper Vancouver Sun.

Nine people were killed and several injured, local police say.

– It happened so fast. I got out of my food truck and looked down and saw bodies everywhere. He (the driver) drove all the way through the street, right in the middle of the street, says Yoseb Vardeh.

Prime Minister: “Devastating”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney writes in a post on X that he is “devastated” by the incident at the Lapu Lapu festival.

“We are monitoring the situation closely and thank our first responders for their quick action,” he writes further.

Photo: Rich Lam / AP

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim also sends his condolences to the victims.

“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific events of Lapu Lapu Day,” he wrote on X.

Police: Not a terrorist act

The driver, a man in his 30s, was arrested at the scene.

Sources the Vancouver Sun spoke to say he apologized to people in the area after the rampage.

“We are confident at this point that this was not a terrorist act,” Vancouver police wrote on X.