Float accident at Haiti Carnival parade kills at least 16

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – At least 16 people were killed early Tuesday in the Haitian capital after a man on top of a musical group’s Carnival float was shocked by high-voltage wires above the street, setting off a panic in which dozens of people were trampled, officials said.

The accident occurred as thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince for the raucous annual celebration. Video showed sparks coursing from the wire after a singer from the Haitian hip-hop group Barikad Crew was jolted by the overhead power line as the float passed below it. The cable appeared to shock several others as well.

Prime Minister Evans Paul said 16 people were confirmed dead and 78 were injured.

Paul declared three days of mourning for the impoverished Caribbean country, and he and President Michel Martelly joined hundreds of people who gathered at the accident site later in the day. Haitian officials canceled Tuesday’s third and final day of Carnival events and announced a state funeral and vigil on Saturday for the victims.

The singer who was hit by the power cable, a man known by the stage name Fantom, was expected to survive, according to a doctor who spoke to radio station Zenith-FM.

Dr. Joel Desire, a doctor at General Hospital, said most of those killed appeared to have been trampled to death as the crowd surged away from the Carnival float, one of 16 in the parade.

Witnesses said panic ensued when people jumped off the float to avoid being electrocuted.

“I saw the wire falling and sparks and I started running for my life,” said Natacha Saint Fleur, who was near the float at the time.

It is a common practice in Haiti and elsewhere to have someone positioned atop a parade float to move low-hanging power lines. In Brazil, officials said three people were killed early Tuesday when they were electrocuted while standing atop a Carnival float that hit a power line on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.