Filipino festival turns into 'darkest day in Vancouver'

The smells of crispy lumpia, caramelized plantains and other Filipino street foods beckoned attendees of a Vancouver festival as they flooded out of a concert on an unusually sunny spring day in the Canadian city.

- 

As the sun set, lines for food trucks began to wrap around the block. A slow trickle of cars entered the closed street to replenish vendor supplies. Then, one driver hit the accelerator, killing 11 people and injuring dozens at the Lapu Lapu Day festival Saturday night. So far, none of the victims have been identified publicly.

Here is how people witnessed the tragedy.

Like a race car revving its engine

Clothing vendor Kris Pangilinan recalled hearing what sounded "like an F1 car about to start a race," followed immediately by screams. He said he will never forget the sound of bodies hitting the hood of the black Audi SUV as it rammed into the crowd.

"All I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming," Pangilinan said. "It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air." Adonis Quita pulled his 9-year-old son out of the way as the SUV plowed into the line of families waiting for their food.

For the young boy, who had just relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines, the festival celebrating British Columbia's large Filipino population was his first taste of home away from home. But now, his father said the boy cannot close his eyes without seeing flashbacks of bloody bodies, some as young as age 5, hitting the pavement.