What is ‘Code Orange’, activated in Vancouver hospitals after Lapu Lapu attack?
The incident happened shortly after 8 p.m local time near East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street in Vancouver, where the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party was taking place.
Several people were killed and multiple others were injured in Vancouver after a driver drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day event on Sunday. The driver has been taken into custody, police said in a post on the social media platform X.
“A number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured after a driver drove into a crowd at a street festival at E. 41st Avenue and Fraser shortly after 8 p.m. tonight. The driver is in custody. We will provide more information as the investigation unfolds,” the Vancouver Police said.
According to a local website Burnaby Bulletin, ‘Code Orange’ has been declared at several Vancouver hospitals.
HT.com cannot independently verify this information.
What is ‘Code Orange’?
According to the University of British Columbia, a ‘Code Orange’ is invoked when mass casualties are expected to arrive at the hospital.
The mass casualties could arise from a “manufactured or natural emergency or disaster” like a plane crash or an earthquake.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X,"I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening."
Vancouver's Mayor Ken Sim and British Columbia Premier David Eby posted similiar comments on X.
One witness told CTV News he saw a black vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was struck.
The Vancouver Sun said thousands of people had been in the area.
“I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev," Yoseb Vardeh, co-owner of food truck Bao Buns, said in an interview with Postmedia.
(With agency inputs)
