A van hits several pedestrians in Amqui
Emergency services blocked the traffic on boulevard Saint-Benoit, in downtown Amqui.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) confirms that a van hit several pedestrians on Saint-Benoît Boulevard, in Amqui.
The police do not know for the moment how many people were hit by the vehicle.
The SQ fears for the lives of some people, however.
Interviewed on Same Frequency, the PQ MP for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé, claims to have obtained “very disturbing information. »
I am told of deaths, injured pedestrians, children… It would be a terrible tragedy, he said.
Mr. Bérubé is also on the road towards Amqui. He says he is in contact with the Minister of Public Security of Quebec, François Bonnardel.
In an interview with Patrice Roy, the Deputy Premier of Quebec, Geneviève Guilbault, evokes a tragedy.
We speak – I used the word tragedy – of drama with a psychosocial dimension, she says. People may have been traumatized. When we make sure to dispatch psychosocial services in real time, it is a tragedy of a certain scale.
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For his part, the spokesperson for the Bas-Saint-Laurent Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS), Gilles Turmel, confirms that a code orange is in progress at the hospital. Amqui.
This code means there are more than six casualties heading to the hospital.
Several ambulances were mobilized at the Amqui hospital.
The CISSS also deployed psychosocial support directly on Saint-Benoît Boulevard due to many witnesses in shock.< /p>
The accident reportedly occurred shortly after 3 p.m., in front of the La Captive microbrewery. The driver was apprehended by the police and is currently being questioned by investigators.
Present at the scene of the accident, the mayor of Amqui, Sylvie Blanchette, maintains that all necessary assistance will be offered to its citizens.
I am here for the citizens of Amqui, to tell them that we are wholeheartedly with them. We know they will need support and that is what we will do in the next few hours and days, she says.
The Trucker Alain Gilbert was at the scene of the accident around 3:15 p.m. and claims to have seen four adults lying on the ground for a distance of 500 meters. An adult was receiving cardiac massage from an SQ policewoman.
Traffic was interrupted on Saint-Benoît Boulevard in both directions.
More details to come.
With information from Lisa-Marie Bélanger and Guillaume Whalen< /em>
