Person struck and killed by Mardi Gras float

A person was struck by a float and fatally injured Saturday evening during one of the iconic parades of the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, authorities said. It was the second death in days to mar this year's Carnival festivities.

A city agency tasked with emergency preparedness tweeted that the death occurred Saturday night as the popular parade of the Krewe of Endymion was rolling. The agency, NOLA Ready, said it had no immediate details about how the death occurred or the identity of the person.

NOLA Ready also tweeted that the remainder of Endymion's floats were stopped Saturday evening. Reports said 13 floats had already gone by a major viewing area when the accident occurred and that the remaining floats and marching groups disbanded. Police said only that a traffic accident had occurred at an intersection with Canal Street, a major downtown thoroughfare in this Mississippi River port city.

New Orleans police said first responders had converged on the area and the department tweeted out calls for crowds thronging the area to avoid the site where the death happened.

The fatality comes as New Orleans had already been mourning the death of a 58-year-old woman who - witnesses said - was run over by a parade float Wednesday night in the run up to Mardi Gras.