Authorities in New Iberia, Louisiana, have mentioned the incident doesn’t look like an intentional car-ramming.
Revealed On 4 Apr 2026
An estimated 15 folks have been injured in Louisiana’s Iberia Parish, after a automotive struck members at a Lao New 12 months parade in the USA.
In accordance with a press release from the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Workplace on Saturday, some attendees had been significantly injured.
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“Primarily based on the preliminary investigation, this doesn’t look like an intentional act,” mentioned Rebecca Melancon, a sheriff’s workplace spokesperson.
The Acadian Ambulance firm confirmed on social media that it had taken 11 folks to the hospital utilizing floor transport, and one other two victims had been airlifted to hunt pressing care. Ten ambulances and two medical helicopters had been deployed to the scene.
The incident came about in New Iberia, a metropolis of greater than 28,000 in Iberia Parish, some 34km (21 miles) south of Lafayette, Louisiana. It’s located roughly 214km (130 miles) west of New Orleans.
The Louisiana Lao New 12 months Competition parade is an annual custom on Easter weekend within the parish, and the celebration options stay music, meals distributors and a magnificence pageant.
Within the aftermath of the automotive crash, the competition issued a press release on social media, saying that each one of its safety sources had been surged to the scene.
“We’re profoundly saddened by the information of the incident close to the competition grounds,” competition organisers wrote. “We’re awaiting extra particulars from authorities as they develop into obtainable.”
They added that Saturday’s musical occasions had been cancelled, although distributors had been permitted to remain open till 9pm native time (2:00am GMT, Sunday).
“We’re praying for the victims and for his or her households throughout this troublesome time,” the organisers wrote. “As of now, and if safety sources are restored for tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to reopen solely the non secular providers of the competition, and distributors will keep open.”
The Lao New 12 months is a convention usually related to Buddhism, and it takes place annually in April, because the dry warmth in Laos offers approach to the moist monsoon season.
Louisiana is residence to a small however vibrant Lao neighborhood. In New Iberia, one neighbourhood is named Lanexang Village — roughly translated to the “million elephants” village — and it’s reportedly residence to lots of of Lao folks.
Many arrived on account of the Vietnam Struggle, which bled into Laos, with communist and US-backed forces clashing over the course of almost 16 years.
The Pathet Lao, a communist motion, in the end took over the nation in 1975, ending Laos’s monarchy. A whole lot of 1000’s of individuals fled within the aftermath, with many resettling in nations like Thailand and the US.
