Bus mows down 33 people while fleeing accident that killed one

Angry crowd then tried to set fire to the bus with the passengers inside in the Haitian town of Gonaives.

Port-au-Prince // A bus speeding away from the scene of a hit-and-run accident ploughed into dozens of street musicians in the Haitian city of Gonaives on Sunday, killing a total of 34 people.

The bus, which was coming from Cap Haitien to the capital Port-au-Prince, crashed into a “rara” parade in town of Gonaives in northern Haiti.

Rara parades are groupings of musicians playing traditional instruments who are often joined by passers-by.

Fifteen people also were injured in the incident.

“First, the bus plowed into two pedestrians, killing one of them, and injuring the other,” said Marie-Alta Jean Baptiste, head of Haiti’s civil protection office.

The driver then rammed into three groups of street musicians as he tried to speed away, leaving 33 of them dead in a scene of ghastly carnage.

Emergency workers transported the injured to the hospital, while police tried to control an angry crowd.

“The people who were not victims of the accident tried to burn the bus with the passengers inside,” said Faustin Joseph, civic protection coordinator for the department of Artibonite, where Gonaives, the regional capital, is located.

“The bus, the passengers and the driver were all placed into the care” of the local authorities, he said.

Haitian president Jovenel Moise “expressed his deep sadness following the terrible accident”.

He called for “an investigation as soon as possible to shine light on this tragedy”.

Haitian roads are dangerous and chaotic, with few rules observed by pedestrians, motorcyclists and drivers.

* Agence France-Presse and Reuters