Multiple people are injured, some critically, after a pickup truck hit several pedestrians in Amqui, Que., about 640 kilometres northeast of Montreal, Quebec provincial police say.
The incident occurred shortly after 3 p.m. on Monday in front of the La Captive microbrewery on Saint-Benoît Boulevard.
Soon after the incident, a spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) was unable to say how many people were hit but confirmed some sustained life-threatening injuries.
The driver was arrested by police and is being questioned by investigators. Authorities stopped traffic flow in both directions.
Gilles Turmel, a spokesperson for the local health authority, said a code orange was issued at the Amqui hospital because there were six or more victims.
The CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent has also deployed psychological support directly to the scene of the collision because there are many witnesses in shock, Turmel said. Similar support will be provided at the hospital, he added.
The member of the National Assembly for the area, Pascal Bérubé, cancelled his plans to be at the legislature on Tuesday and headed to Amqui — a town of roughly 6,000 people in his riding of Matane-Matapédia.
Bérubé, who is with the Parti Québécois, said on Twitter that he is in communication with the province’s public security minister, François Bonnardel.
In an interview on the Radio-Canada radio program Même fréquence, Bérubé said he has obtained “very disturbing information” about the incident.
“I am told of deaths. I am told of injured pedestrians, children,” he said. “It is a terrible tragedy.”
About two hours after the collision, Quebec’s deputy premier, Geneviève Guilbault, told Radio-Canada that it was too early to say if the driver intentionally hit the pedestrians, but the incident reminded her of what happened last month in Laval — where police say a city bus was deliberately smashed into a daycare, killing two children.
The fact that the CISSS is quickly sending psychological support to the scene is a clear sign that this is a grave tragedy, she said, but it’s still unclear just how many casualties there are.
Trucker Alain Gilbert was driving when he noticed an ambulance, sirens blaring, racing up behind him on Monday, he said. He pulled over to let the ambulance pass, and then a short time later, found himself at the scene of the collision at around 3:15 p.m.
He told Radio-Canada that he saw at least four adults lying on the ground across a distance of 500 meters. He saw an SQ police officer performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on one victim. He said there were police and other rescuers on the scene already and more coming to help as he watched.
“It’s shocking what happened in Amqui,” said Premier François Legault on Twitter. “All my thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. Thank you to the first responders on the ground.”