Two children were killed and six others were injured after a Laval city bus crashed into a day care center Wednesday morning.
The bus driver, a 51-year-old man, was arrested and faces manslaughter and dangerous driving charges, police say.
The six other children are no longer in critical condition.
The incident took place at Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose on Dufferin Terrace in the Sainte-Rose district of Laval shortly after 8:30 a.m. Nine ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
Images from the scene show that the bus crashed into the front of the building. The daycare center is located at the end of an access road, and the driver would have had to pull off the road and drive down the access road to crash into it. The reason for the accident is still unknown.
This is what the Laval police explained about the tragic incident.
We received a 911 call about a bus that had crashed into a daycare center, here in Sainte Rose, what we can tell you is that the driver is a 51 year old male, STL employee has been arrested for reckless driving and manslaughter. He will be questioned by investigators, but we do not yet know the motive for the crime. We have 6 children who have been transported to different hospitals in Montreal and Laval, but unfortunately two other children died as a result of the accident and the entire Laval police department is working on this investigation and we want to offer our deepest condolences to the families affected.
It is now being investigated whether the driver deliberately crashed into the daycare. A parent at the scene alleged that the driver "pulled into the daycare parking lot and accelerated to crash into the daycare."
"He was clearly not in his right mind."
A neighbor of the daycare said he ran to the scene of the accident. Hamdi Benchaabane told reporters that he and three parents managed to subdue the driver, who he said got out of the bus, took off all his clothes and started screaming.
"He was screaming, he wouldn't stop screaming," Benchaabane said. "The first thing he did was take off all his clothes after he opened the bus door... He was just screaming, no words were coming out of his mouth."
He said he and the others had to beat the driver to control him, before police handcuffed him. The driver, he said, "was in a different world."
Laval Mayor Stephane Boyer added that the driver had worked for the STL for a decade.
"Our hearts go out to the families and employees affected by this tragedy," wrote Laval's public transportation agency, STL.
It was a chaotic scene at the daycare center after the accident as parents searched for information about their children.
"Panic... panic... I called all my friends," said Julia Moreno, who said her 3-year-old son was not in danger.
According to police in addition to the 6 injured children an adult in shock also had to be taken to the hospital, it is unknown if it is one of the parents of the affected children.
"The teams of the hospital center are doing everything possible to treat the patients, but also to support the families in this tragic situation," reported the Saint Marie hospital.
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