Bus plows into Haiti parade crowds
Bay State senator ready to provide aid
At least 34 people were killed in Haiti when a bus plowed into traditional Easter season “rara” parades, and state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester) said her office is ramping up to handle calls and requests for assistance from local Haitians.
“It’s just really sad, it’s a yearly parade,” Forry, the only Haitian-American serving in elected office in the State House, told the Herald yesterday. “We’re waiting to hear the impacts. We’re kind of gearing up to see if there’s any calls, if we need to be connecting with U.S. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), in case someone needs to get home.”
An estimated 41,000 Haitians live in Massachusetts.
The crash occurred about 3 a.m. yesterday when a bus driver fleeing an accident drove into crowds of people, killing at least 34 and injuring about 17 more, authorities said.
The bus was traveling from Cap Haitien to Portau-Prince, the Haitian capital, when it initially struck two pedestrians at a bus stop outside Gonaives in the northern part of the country, killing one, officials said.
Authorities said the bus driver then drove away and crashed into three rara parades about three miles away in Mapou. Thirtyfour people were killed at the scene.
Reuters reported that four more victims later died in the hospital, and quoted an area deputy representative, Fred Henry, as saying, “Usually the drivers involved in such accidents don’t stop, because they are afraid they might be killed” in reprisal.
Josepth Faustin, civil defense coordinator for the Artibonito region, said that after the mass mayhem, angry festivalgoers then attacked the bus and tried to burn it before police rescued the passengers aboard. The bus driver fled and was being sought.
Faustin said the cause of the accident was unclear.
Forry said one potential cause may be the poor state of Haitian roadways in some areas.
“I can tell you that the roads in Haiti are very rough,” she said. “It depends on the neighborhood and really the different cities. It’s really treacherous roads in some places, so that could really just be it.”
Forry said her brother, sister-in-law, and sister returned to Massachusetts from Haiti shortly before the tragedy.