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[haitiwebs]

Fri Feb 15, 7:41 PM ET

By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - 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, which was loaded with bags of ice, sped away but was stopped later, police said. The driver said his brakes failed.

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.