LAST UPDATE | 8 Feb 2023
TWO CHILDREN HAVE died after a bus driver rammed into a day care centre near Montreal in Canada’s Quebec province, in what police believe was a deliberate act.
One child died on the scene and another in an ambulance, Canadian authorities said, after several children were trapped under the vehicle when it slammed into the building in the suburb of Laval at around 8:30am (1:30pm GMT).
“We think that this is deliberate, but we don’t know the motive,” local police chief Pierre Brochet told AFP, adding that 51-year-old suspect Pierre Ny St-Amand was being questioned and had no prior criminal record.
Six other children transported to hospital were now “out of danger,” according to Laval police spokeswoman Erika Landry.
Arrested for “homicide and dangerous driving” but not yet charged according to police, St-Amand was to appear in court via video conference this afternoon.
One father told Radio Canada, weeping as he spoke, how he had “helped subdue the driver who got off the bus.” His wife said the man was “half undressed” and both said they saw him “ram deliberately into the day care.”
The bus appeared to have smashed into a side of the building which is near a parking lot away from the nearest road. Part of the roof collapsed on top of the front of the vehicle.
One parent at the scene, holding her own child, told Radio Canada it was the centre’s class of oldest children that was hit.
“I know that there are no words for parents who have lost their children this way,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
“All Canadians are grieving with them, and we’ll do whatever we can to support them in their horrific pain in the coming days, months and years of grief,” he said.
No adults were hurt in the collision.
A large area was cordoned off around the building and a helicopter passed overhead at regular intervals, according to an AFP journalist on the scene.
Some of the victims were taken to Sainte-Justine hospital, which was set to have a press conference later in the day.
“There is nothing more cruel than attacking our children,” Quebec Premier Francois Legault tweeted, praising emergency workers who responded to the scene.
“I keep thinking about the families and loved ones of the children who died, as well as those who were injured,” he said.
Legault said he and opposition party leaders planned to go back to Laval Thursday “to offer my support to the families and to the personnel affected by this terrible tragedy.”
Day care worker Mona Gilot, 54, told AFP she was “angry.”
“My head is spinning, it’s really difficult for me to speak,” she said.
After the crash, parents rushed up the snow-covered sidewalk to collect their children from the center, which usually has about 80 or 85 children attending, while a nearby school was transformed into a crisis headquarters.
“I am shocked by this news. The investigation continues to understand this tragic series of events,” tweeted Stephane Boyer, the mayor of Laval.
“All of my support to the parents at these difficult moments,” he added, saying he was going to the scene to meet with the families.
“Laval is wholeheartedly with you and will be there for you.”
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