A tragedy shakes Canada. Two children were killed and six others injured when a city bus crashed into a kindergarten in the Montreal suburb of Laval. It was 8.30 am when the vehicle crashed into the Garderie Éducative de Sainte-Rose in the Sainte-Rose district in Terrasse Dufferin. The price is heavy, and confusion is common in society.
driver arrested
Police said Wednesday that the 51-year-old bus driver, Pierre Ny St-Amand, who works on the Laval municipality public transport system, has been arrested for murder and dangerous driving. “We think it was an intentional act, but we don’t know why,” said Laval police chief Pierre Brochet. The mayor of the suburb, Stéphane Boyer, told the media that the driver had worked for the Société de transport de Laval for nearly 10 years and had not had any significant accidents.
A child was found dead at the scene. The other was taken to a hospital in Laval and was later pronounced dead. Six children were taken to the hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries.
Police did not give the victims’ ages, but about 80 children under the age of five attend kindergarten. After the incident, while wide security measures were taken around the building, the parents who rushed to the center in panic were taken to a nearby primary school. Dozens of police and emergency vehicles are in the field.
“The driver took off his clothes and screamed”
The resident said he ran to the scene of the accident. He and three parents managed to stop the driver, who got off the bus, took off all his clothes and started shouting. “The first thing he did after opening the bus door was to take off all his clothes… He was just shouting, no clear words came out,” said Hamdi Benchaabane.
Pierre Ny St-Amand has been charged twice with first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, armed assault, bodily injury: he will be transferred to a psychiatric hospital for psychiatric evaluation, only to assess whether he is dangerous.
Drone footage shows the bus crashing in front of the nursery. The building is at the end of a driveway and the bus driver would have to take the road he usually uses to get there. The class of older children at school was affected. Some minors were trapped under the bus: a gruesome sight in which the rescuers found themselves in front of them.
“Everyone is very sad about what happened,” said Quebec Household Minister Suzanne Roy. “When you put your kids in daycare for a day, you think they’re in good hands… When something like this happens, it shakes and breaks us.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Prime Minister François Legault expressed their condolences. A makeshift monument with flowers and cute toys was erected at the site of the tragedy Wednesday night, as the community mourned the dead and injured children.
People in Laval left flowers and stuffed animals on a makeshift memorial on the hood of a police car near the crash site of the nursery bus that killed two four-year-olds and injured six. (🎥 @cosmoCTV)https://t.co/FkyXO5NbXk pic.twitter.com/lRLv56phqy
— Joe Lofaro (@giuseppelo) February 9, 2023
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
