Revellers die when car slams into crowd at Filipino festival

A shop assistant who was at work on the street during the incident told Canada’s Globe and Mail the vehicle charged down the street, with people screaming and running to help, while others stood frozen in shock.

“We just see him go full speed through a bunch of people. I saw a bunch of people go high up from the impact of hitting the car,” Nic Magtajs said.

“Pure mayhem as soon as it happened. It was so loud … A lot of loud bangs, not to mention the engine.”

One witness told CTV News he saw a black vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was struck.

“I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev,” food truck owner Yoseb Vardeh said in an interview with Postmedia.

“I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there’s just bodies everywhere,” Vardeh said, his voice breaking. “He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”

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Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he was “shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident”.

“Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”

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.”

Canada is set to hold its federal election on Monday. Polls have put Liberal Carney ahead of his Conservative rival, Pierre Poilievre.

Another candidate, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, was among the attendees at the event but left minutes before the vehicle arrived, CTV news said. It was only the second time the festival has been held.

“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.”

More to come