In Alabama, a Mardi Gras parade was disrupted by a vehicle crash in Gulf Shores on Tuesday morning, injuring 11 members of a marching band, three critically.
The suspected vehicle, which appeared to have been driven by an elderly man, was part of the parade situated behind the Gulf Shores High School marching band, WKRG-TV reported. Authorities did not know whether the incident was accidental or intentional.
"A teenage band has just started to march down the parade route when they were struck from behind," Grant Brown, a City of Gulf Shores representative, told WKRG-TV. "The vehicle was a part of the parade."
The parade was cancelled due to the accident, AL.com reported. One witness described the involved vehicle as a white Ford Expedition. Gulf Shores police have asked those who were shooting video of the parade to share it with them.
Emergency personnel transported several victims to the South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley, WKRG-TV reported. Police told the television station that parts of State Highway 59 were closed while emergency personnel were escorted to the accident scene.
Angie Swiger, Baldwin County Board of Education member, said all students in the parade have been accounted for, according to CNN.
"We've taken the students back to the high school that have not been checked out by parents, and we have accounted for everyone," Swiger said, adding that a crisis counselor will be at the high school to comfort students and parents who witnessed the crash, CNN reported.
"It's going to be a very difficult day," she said to CNN. "It is a tight-knit community. We just ask for everyone's thoughts and prayers."
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