1 dead and hundreds injured at Haiti summer carnival
At least one person was killed and hundreds more injured at
Haiti's three-day summer "Carnival of Flowers," which wraps up
Tuesday, police and medical sources said.
Police said the death occurred Sunday, when a man in his
thirties fell off a float.
And over the three days, some 800 people, including four
young children, were treated by emergency services on Sunday and Monday for
illness, accidents and knife injuries, according to emergency services.
The generally noncritical injuries were largely due to
altercations and the influence of alcohol, they said.
"What's alarming is the many young people, mostly
girls, found inebriated. They've consumed alcohol and taken drugs," a
medical source said.
Tens of thousands of people participated in the first two
days of the carnival, joined by President Michel Martelly, a former singer who
has previously presided over the summer festival.
The festivities took place in a large public square near the
presidential palace -- which had been destroyed during the country's 2010
earthquake that killed 250,000 people.
Some 6,000 of the country's 10,000 police worked the
festival.
"The carnival is a great, popular success. It will
promote tourism and provide significant economic benefits," Martelly said.
The president has been criticized by various associations
and opposition parties over the carnival, particularly for starting the
celebration on July 28, the day Haiti's US occupation began Haiti in 1915.
Martelly has also taken heat for the nearly $2 million spent
organizing the event. It is money some say could have been used to help people
still living in makeshift shelters three years after the country was ravaged by
the earthquake.
Elsewhere, in the capital's Delmas neighborhood, three
people were killed and 15 injured Tuesday in an accident involving a garbage
truck with failed breaks, according to an official.
Comments
Post a Comment