Driver rams into festival crowd, killing 11 in Canada

Nine people were killed when a driver plowed into a crowd at a Filipino cultural celebration in Vancouver, police in the Canadian city said Sunday.

"As of now, we can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last night's Lapu Lapu Festival," the police said on X.

Vancouver police said numerous more people got injured in the incident.

Police posted on social media site X that the driver had been taken into custody. Police did not provide any other information.

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.”