Driver in Chile runs over and kills six people at festival

Members of the Carabineros and firefighters work next to a vehicle that struck several people at a street market in Vina del Mar, Chile. (AFP photo)
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Updated 12 July 2026
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Driver in Chile runs over and kills six people at festival

  • Driver lost control of vehicle, says police official
  • Seven others were injured but are not in life-threatening condition

SANTIAGO: A driver plowed into people at a street festival Sunday in Chile, killing at least six, police said.
The man reportedly lost control of the vehicle at the festival in the coastal city of Vina del Mar, Jorge Guaita, a police official, told AFP.
Another seven people were injured but their lives were not in danger, he said.
Early reports said the driver was speeding on a road running alongside the festival site.
He was detained and will be tested for alcohol consumption, Guaita said.
The driver was an off-duty naval petty officer, the Chilean Navy said.
According to initial police reports, the driver was not under the influence of alcohol but likely lost control due to rain on the road, a regional official said.
Most of the victims were merchants at the fair, he added.
Photographs from the scene showed a white car with a shattered windshield and part of its hood destroyed, surrounded by scraps of clothing, cardboard boxes and other apparent fairground merchandise.
The tragedy “has plunged the entire country into mourning,” President Jose Antonio Kast said in a post on X, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims.