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Haiti cancels carnival after over a dozen killed in float accident

Xinhua, February 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Haiti's government decided to cancel carnival celebrations after more than a dozen revelers were killed in an accident early Tuesday morning in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Another 40 people were injured in the incident, which took place at 2:48 a.m. local time (07:48 GMT) in Champ de Mars, a neighborhood around the national palace.

Local press quoted eyewitness accounts as saying that the accident occurred when the float, which carried a popular rap group called the Barikad Crew, struck a power line overhead as it made its way through the Champ de Mars, provoking panic among the crowd surrounding the float.

In the ensuing chaos, as many as 20 people may have been killed, though officials have yet to confirm the exact death toll.

"More than a dozen people are dead," Communications Minister Rothchild Francois Jr. said in a communique issued in Port-au- Prince.

A singer of the rap group, whose real name is Carel Pedro, was one of the first victims taken to hospital.

A person close to the singer told Haiti's Le Nouvelliste daily, "his life is not in danger, I was able to speak to him, but the doctors are monitoring his health."

"My sincere condolences go to the victims of the serious accident this morning at Champ de Mars," Haiti's President Michel Martelly said via Twitter.

Initially, the injured were treated at an on-site emergency care booth installed by Haiti's First Lady Sophia Saint-Remy, but the number of wounded soon surpassed the facility's capacity.

Haiti's Prime Minister Paul Evans, meanwhile, announced three days of national mourning, and a collective state funeral for the victims on Saturday, according to online news agency Alter Presse.

The Haitian capital's Mardi Gras celebrations kicked off Sunday and traditionally lasted three days. Thousands of spectators had gathered to watch this year's parade of 16 musical groups and 125 carnival floats, and their costumed dancers.

Accidents involving floats are not uncommon during carnival, La Nouvelliste reported, "but this is the first time that there is a large number of victims in a single incident." Endite