Two men were killed in Canada and nine other pedestrians were injured when they were run over by a pickup truck in a small northern town on Monday, police said.
Quebec police spokeswoman Sergeant Helene St-Pierre told reporters that a 38-year-old local man had been arrested and investigators were looking into whether he ran people over on purpose in the town of Amqui, about 650km north of Montreal.
Accident reconstruction experts are working to establish the circumstances of the crash, St-Pierre said.
Photo: AP
“Everything indicates that this is an isolated event,” she said. “There is no more danger in the area and only one suspect.”
The incident occurred shortly after 3pm on Amqui’s main street. The town in the picturesque Gaspe Peninsula has a population of about 6,000.
The two deceased men were in their 60s and 70s, police said.
Two of the injured people were also in a serious condition, police added.
Some of them were transported to a hospital in Quebec City.
Witnesses told local media that a truck hit several people on a sidewalk outside a popular microbrewery, then continued for another 400m to 500m along the road, swerving and striking more people.
Paramedics reportedly found injured people strewn across the road and sidewalks on either side.
A damaged stroller was said to be among the crash debris and early reports said children were among the injured, although police have not confirmed this.
The province’s public security minister, Francois Bonnardel, wrote on Twitter that preliminary information suggested a “serious accident” had taken place.
St-Pierre said the driver fled the scene, but later turned himself in at a nearby police station.
“My heart is with the people of Amqui, Quebec today,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on Twitter.
“As we learn more about the tragic events that have taken place, I’m keeping everyone affected in my thoughts,” he wrote.
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