Overview
- Visitors at the UNESCO-listed Citadelle Laferrière, a 19th-century mountaintop fortress, were caught in a Saturday stampede that witnesses linked to heavy rain, a single open doorway, and people pushing to enter and leave at once.
- Officials closed the site to visitors and said rescue teams are still searching for the missing while hospitals treat dozens of injured patients and doctors conduct autopsies to confirm the final toll.
- Haitian National Police said Monday they detained seven people in Milot, including five municipal police officers and two employees of the National Heritage Preservation Institute, as part of a criminal inquiry.
- Local authorities lowered the reported death count from 30 to 25, declared days of national mourning, and pledged to pay funeral costs for the victims.
- The crowd swelled after local promoters and a DJ urged attendance on TikTok, highlighting how social-media-driven gatherings can overwhelm fragile crowd controls at heritage sites and prompting scrutiny of event approvals.