Police in Laval, Quebec, say two children are dead and six children have been hospitalized after a city bus crashed into a day care north of Montreal on Wednesday.
A 51-year-old employee of the bus service has been arrested and charged with careless driving and homicide, said Erika Landry, a Laval police spokesperson
“As of now, we don’t know the motive of the crime,” she said.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
LAVAL, Quebec (AP) — A city bus crashed into a day care north of Montreal on Wednesday, sending several children and others to the hospital, officials said.
Police set up a large perimeter around the building housing the day care in Laval, Quebec, as distraught parents arrived to check on their children. Dozens of police and emergency vehicles lined the blocked-off road leading to the day care. Panicked parents tried to run down the road to the site, but were redirected to a nearby elementary school building that has been turned into a gathering point.
The bus driver, an employee of the Société de transport de Laval, has been arrested, Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said, but it was unclear if he was charged.
"It’s a terrible tragedy,″ Bonnardel said from Quebec City.
A man who lives near the day care said he rushed to the scene of the crash and that he and three parents managed to subdue the driver, who he said stepped out of the bus, removed all his clothing and started screaming.
“The first thing he did was take off all his clothes after opening the bus door. .... He was just yelling; there were no words coming out of his mouth," said Hamdi Benchaabane.
Benchaabane said he believes the driver deliberately drove into the day care, which is located at the end of a driveway off a cul-de-sac. There is a bus stop on the cul-de-sac, but the driver would have had to veer off the road and head down the long driveway to hit the building.
He said he and the others had to strike the driver to get him under control, before police cuffed the man. The driver, he said, “was in a different world.”
Benchaabane said he was able to help pull one child from the day care, adding that he and the others tried to save a second child before firefighters ordered them to leave because pieces of the roof were at risk of falling.
“It was a nightmare, I can’t believe it,” he said of what he witnessed. “It was horrible.”
Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer said the driver has worked for the transit agency for about 10 years and has no incidents of note on his file.
“There is a theory that it was an intentional act, but that remains to be confirmed by the investigation,” Boyer said.
Boyer said several children were hurt.
Aerial news footage from the scene shows the Societe de transport de Laval bus crashed into the front of the day care center. The building is located at the end of a driveway, and the bus driver would have had to leave the road to hit it.
Laval police said they received a 911 call about 8:30 a.m., but gave no other details.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his office was “following the situation closely.”
