Two children are dead and six injured after a bus driver pulled into a daycare center in Canada on Wednesday, then got out of his car and stripped naked.
Witnesses watched as driver Pierre Ny St-Amand, 51, drove into the Laval building north of Montreal at 8.30am and into a group of 12 people, including adults. One child was pronounced dead at the scene, the other at the hospital.
Parents rushed to help children who were stuck under the bus after being hit, CBC reported. The six injured children are currently hospitalized and are expected to survive.
Witness Hamdi Ben Chaabane watched the driver drive into the center at about 24mph before yelling erratically and stripping.
‘He opens the door. He took off all his clothes. He was completely naked,” Chaabane recalled.
While the ages of the victims were not released, authorities said the daycare is for children under the age of five. The driver was arrested and charged with manslaughter.
Two children are dead and six injured after a bus drove into a daycare center in Laval, Quebec on Saturday. In all, about 12 people were injured and the six children are expected to survive
The 51-year-old driver was arrested after the horrific event and charged with manslaughter
Chaabane described the driver as “in another world”.
“From what I saw, it wasn’t an accident,” Chaabane told the news outlet. “We don’t know why he did it. We fell for him. We tried to tame him.”
Chaabane was one of the many onlookers who rushed to pull out children who were stuck under the bus.
According to the news outlet, he was able to pull out a boy but struggled to pull out a girl deeper.
The day care center is located at the end of a driveway on a cul-de-sac. There is a bus stop at the cul-de-sac but the driver would have had to turn off the road and down the long driveway to reach the building.
“There were no signs of skid marks… He went straight to the daycare,” said eyewitness Mario Sirois.
Sirois’ wife, Ginette Lamoureux, the neighbor who ran to the daycare shortly after the accident, said the driver was in hysterics.
“His eyes were like popping out,” she said.
Around 80 children under the age of five attend the daycare center. According to the New York Times, the center is likely Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose.
After the incident, parents waited anxiously in front of the daycare center. The motive for the crash is unclear, but officials speculate it was not an accident
After Wednesday morning’s incident, parents were seen dragging their children from school
Parents were seen hugging their children as they left the day care center where the accident happened
The bus can be seen partially in the day care center. While officials didn’t give the daycare a name, it is likely Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose
dr Marc Girard, director of Sainte-Justine hospital, confirmed the injured children were in preschool, with at least two female and two male victims, the news outlet reported.
Girard added that the surviving children are conscious but have sustained traumatic injuries.
Police announced at a press conference in the afternoon that the bus driver has been with Societe de Transport de Laval for 10 years and has no criminal record.
“So far we do not know the motive for the crime,” said police spokeswoman Erika Landry.
Meanwhile, Laval Mayor Stephane Boyer speculated that the crash was not an accident.
“There is a theory that it was a premeditated act, but that has yet to be confirmed by the investigation,” Boyer added.
Government officials claimed the incident was not a terrorist attack and that there was no threat to the community.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said officials are “closely following the situation” while comforting parents who have lost their children.
“All Canadians mourn with them and will do what we can to support them in their terrible pain in the days, months and years to come,” Trudeau said.