PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A bus plowed into people taking part in an early morning street festival in Haiti on Sunday, killing at least 34 and injuring 17 others, rescue officials said.

The accident occurred around 3 a.m. in the city of Gonaives when a passenger bus first hit two people at a bus stop and then continued into a crowd of people participating in a Rara festival, an Easter season Haitian musical celebration, said Josepth Faustin, civil defense coordinator for the Artibonito region.

Faustin said angry festival-goers then attacked the bus and tried to burn it before police rescued the passengers aboard. The bus driver fled and was being sought. He said the cause of the accident was unclear.

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The injured were being treated at a hospital in Gonaives, about 60 miles northwest of the capital.