Eighteen killed in a crush at the Port-au-Prince carnival

At about 2:48 in the morning on this day, a float on the Champ de Mars struck a live power line during the second night of Kanaval. A musician on the float was electrocuted, the crowd panicked, and people were crushed in the stampede. Eighteen died, fifteen men and three women, and 78 were injured. The government cancelled the third day of carnival and declared three days of national mourning. Prime Minister Evans Paul and the mayor’s office spent the following weeks arguing over who had signed off on the route.