Haiti declared three days of mourning after a stampede at the mountaintop Citadelle Laferrière over the weekend left 25 people dead. National police said seven people were arrested in Milot, the town below the fortress: five municipal police officers and two employees of the National Heritage Preservation Institute. Authorities said the detainees were being questioned but did not specify any charges.
Officials initially reported 30 fatalities before revising the toll to 25. Milot Mayor Wesner Joseph told AFP that 13 bodies were taken to Sacre-Coeur Hospital and 12 were recovered at the citadel. He said 25 injured people were receiving treatment at the hospital.
Accounts differ on what triggered the panic. Some local reports blamed heavy rain. Mayor Joseph said his office had no prior notice of an event at the citadel; later, authorities said a local DJ had promoted a gathering on TikTok. The event reportedly charged about $8 for entry and drew many children and young people, with videos showing hundreds making the steep roughly 8-kilometer climb to the fortress.
The Civil Protection agency told AFP the crowd may have swelled during a traditional festival. It said a scuffle broke out between people inside who wanted to leave and others outside trying to enter, and that only one gate was open for both entry and exit. The resulting crush caused asphyxiation, trampling and loss of consciousness among visitors.
Citadelle Laferrière—built in 1820 near the northern port of Cap-Haïtien—is a major tourist site and a powerful symbol of Haiti’s hard-won independence. The fortress was erected to deter a feared French invasion and remains an emblem of the country’s history.
Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher