a787: Haiti-Truck Accident (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 15 (AP) -- A truck barreled through hundreds of
Lenten revelers going down a main road just outside Port-au-Prince early
Friday, killing 10 people and injuring 25.
   The truck driver, whose cargo was loaded with bags of ice, sped away but
was arrested later, police said.
   Gathering in groups called "Ra-Ra" bands, revelers are often seen
dancing on Haiti's provincial roads and highways in the weeks between
carnival, which ended Wednesday, and Easter.
   Louis Placide, 27, whose home is alongside the main road leading west
from Port-au-Prince, was drawn out of bed by the sounds of bamboo flutes
and homemade trumpets. When he ran out, he got caught between three bands
who were packing the two-lane road.
   "Suddenly, out of nowhere, a truck came barreling down on us, cutting a
swathe through the hundreds of revelers," he said from the emergency ward
of Port-au-Prince's State University Hospital, where he was being treated
for bruises to both legs.
   Dr. Jack Guy Lafontant, director of St. Croix Hospital near Leogane, 16
miles west of Port-au-Prince, said eight victims died at the scene and two
died later. He said hospitals were treating 25 others.