Witnesses Describe How the Quebec Daycare Bus Crash Unfolded, Moment by Moment

People stand next to a memorial at the site of a daycare centre in Laval, Que, Feb. 9, 2023, where a bus crashed into the building killing two children. The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

It was just before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday when André Beaudoin pulled into the parking lot to bring his two-year-old son to daycare. The Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose in Laval, Que., was busy, with parents stopping to drop off their children for the day.

The sound of an engine revving was Beaudoin’s first signal that something wasn’t right. He looked up and saw a city bus barrelling down the driveway before it smashed into the front of the daycare, into the room where the oldest children—the four- and five-year-olds—gather.