New Orleans residents mourn truck attack victims, urge efforts to prevent similar incidents

Families continue to mourn victims of the deadly New Year's Eve attack that left several dead in the U.S. city of New Orleans, while community members have urged the local government to take decisive action to prevent such violence in the future.

While New Orleans may have returned to business as usual, residents of the historic French Quarter have set up memorials to pay tribute to those who died in the attack on Bourbon Street.

Crosses and prayer candles carry the images of the deceased, reflecting the neighborhood's Catholic traditions.

With the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras just around the corner for New Orleans in 2025, residents said that things can only get better after the tragic start to the year, but they hope the loss will not be soon forgotten.

"It just breaks my heart, and out of this tragedy I hope that the city leaders really do realize that they need to get a little bit more of a handle on what happens down here, because there are other events. I just don't want the city to turn the page and just like, oh, it's the Super Bowl, we're ready to go. We really need to absorb the fact that this was a huge loss, that we need to do things to ensure that never happens again," said Maryanne Lewis, a French Quarter resident.

U.S. President Joe Biden will visit New Orleans on Monday to console victims' families and meet with city officials.

Early on New Year's Day, a tragic vehicle attack in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the southern U.S. state of Louisiana left at least 15 people dead and around 30 others injured.

The bloodshed occurred when the driver of a pickup truck plowed into a crowd of New Year revelers on Bourbon Street, one of the city's busiest streets. The suspect was killed in a shootout with police, and the attack is now being investigated by the FBI as a potential act of terrorism.

New Orleans residents mourn truck attack victims, urge efforts to prevent similar incidents

New Orleans residents mourn truck attack victims, urge efforts to prevent similar incidents

New Orleans residents mourn truck attack victims, urge efforts to prevent similar incidents

New Orleans residents mourn truck attack victims, urge efforts to prevent similar incidents

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The high-speed railway connecting east China's Hangzhou City of Zhejiang Province and Hong Kong was put into use on Sunday, cutting travel time between the two cities to below seven hours.   Departing from Hangzhou West Station at 15:10 BJT, the G99 train passes six stations before arriving at 21:56 BJT at West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong. Passengers only need to scan their Exit and Entry Permit at the station to finish cross-boundary inspection.   "It takes just over six hours to arrive in Hong Kong, which is not that long. I have my Hong Kong-Macao Entry-Exit Permit, and all I need is to scan it on the machine over the counter," said Jin Siyu, a traveler taking the first train.   To further facilitate travelers on the route, Hangzhou West Station now allows passengers to extend their Entry-Exit Permit with self-service machines.

"It takes around two to three minutes to finish (the extension) on this machine. But we can only provide extension services," said Chen Na, a staff member at the police station at Hangzhou West Station Hub, under the Yuhang District branch of Hangzhou City Public Security.

Railway connecting Hangzhou and Hong Kong begins operation