Car ploughs into crowds in Berlin, leaving people dead and injured
Terror on the streets of Berlin: Driver ‘repeatedly mounts the pavement’ and ploughs his car into crowd killing at least one person and injuring 30 before being tackled by bystanders
At least one person has been killed and another 30 wounded after car drove into crowds of shoppers in Berlin Silver Renault Clio repeatedly mounted pavement and drove 600ft before hitting a shop, local media saysCops say male driver, 29, has been arrested but have refused to say whether they believe crash was deliberateCrash happened just a short distance from where Islamist extremist killed 12 in 2016 Christmas market attack
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At least one person has been killed and up to 30 have been hurt – five of them with life-threatening injuries – after a car ploughed into crowds near a church in Berlin this morning.
A silver Renault Clio drove into people on Tauentzienstrausse, a street packed with shops and cafes in west Berlin that is overlooked by Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, around 10.30am local time Wednesday.
Witnesses said the car drove ‘very fast’ towards the pavement before mounting it and hitting pedestrians, before rejoining the road and driving about 600ft further down the street. The car then mounted the pavement again, hit more shoppers, and crashed through the front window of a Douglas perfume shop.
The driver tried to flee the scene but was held by two passersby until police arrived. Officers say the driver – a 29-year-old man – has been arrested, but refused to say whether they believe the crash was deliberate or an accident. Police have not given a description of the man, or said if he was hurt.
The crash happened just yards from where an Islamist extremist killed 12 people at a Christmas market in 2016 by ramming them with a stolen van.
The dead person is a teacher, Die Welt reported, with students said to be among the injured. Five are in critical condition, with another three seriously hurt, the fire department said.
Actor John Barrowman was in the area at the time, and described hearing a ‘loud bang’ from inside a shop before running out to a scene of ‘carnage’ with a dead body lying in the road and police ‘everywhere’.
Posting on Twitter from the street, he said: ‘The car came down onto the pavement. Then has come onto the road over there, has hit somebody then has gone down the road and come back onto the pavement… and gone through a bunch of people and then right into a store front window.’
At least one person is dead after a car ploughed into crowds of people on a street packed with shops and cafes in western Berlin around 10.30am Wednesday
Dozens of people were hurt in the crash, some of them seriously, as local media said the car repeatedly mounted the pavement and hit people before the driver tried to flee
Dozens of firefighters, police and medics rushed to the scene – which is just a short distance from where 13 were killed in the 2016 Berlin Christmas market attack
Rescue workers help an injured person after a car crashed into a crowd of people in central Berlin, Germany
The silver Renault Twingo is said to have mounted the pavement several times and rammed into people, before crashing through the front of a perfume shop
Actor John Barrowman said he was inside a nearby shop when he heard a ‘bang’ and ran out to find ‘carnage’ including a dead body lying in the middle of the road
Fire crews help treat two young women who were wounded after a car mounted the pavement and drove into people in western Berlin on Wednesday morning
Fire crews strap an injured person to a stretcher after they were wounded by a car which mounted the pavement and ploughed into shoppers in Berlin on Wednesday
An air ambulance comes in to land on Rankestrausse, a busy shopping street in central Berlin where a car repeatedly mounted the pavement and drove into people on Wednesday morning
Police and fire crews rush to help people injured by a car in Berlin, as the vehicle sits embedded in the front of a perfume shop window. The driver has been arrested
Emergency responders stand at the site where a car ploughed into pedestrians in western Berlin on Wednesday morning
Armed police stand guard on the Berlin street where a car smashed into pedestrians – leaving at least one person dead
The crash happened around 10.30am local time – 9.30am GMT – on Rankestrausse, a street filled with shops and cafes that is overlooked by Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Speaking to Sky News, he added: ‘How horrible that this morning these people got up to just go through a regular day, they were going through their daily business. I mean we were shopping, but if you think if we’d have come out of that store one minute earlier…
‘We are no experts but this looks intentional,’ he added, speaking alongside husband Scott Gill.
Police said: ‘A man is believed to have driven into a group of people. It is not yet known whether it was an accident or a deliberate act.’
Berlin’s Senator for the Interior, Iris Spranger, said: ‘I’m in the situation center and keep myself informed. My thoughts and my deepest sympathy are with all those affected.’
The crash took place near the main shopping district’s Breitscheidplatz, the scene of Berlin’s 2016 Christmas market attack in which 13 people were killed.
Twelve died after being rammed by a truck driven by Anis Amri, who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, while the 13th victim was the truck’s original driver – shot dead by Amri who stole the vehicle to use in the attack.
Germany has seen several such attacks since the deadly 2016 assault.
In December 2020, a German man ploughed his car through a pedestrian shopping street in the southwestern city of Trier, killing four adults and a baby.
Earlier the same year, a German man rammed his car through a carnival procession in the central town of Volkmarsen, injuring dozens of bystanders, including children. He was sentenced to life in jail last year.
In January 2019, another German national injured eight people when he drove into crowds on New Year’s Eve in the western cities of Bottrop and Essen. He was later taken into psychiatric care.
In April 2018, a German man crashed his van into people seated outside a restaurant in the city of Muenster, killing five before shooting himself dead. Investigators later said he had mental health problems.
During the football World Cup in Germany in 2006, a German man rammed his car into crowds gathered to watch a match at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, injuring some 20 people. The driver was later committed to a psychiatric hospital.
A man is stretchered into the back of am ambulance after a car drove into crowds in a shopping district in western Berlin
Medics help a wounded person into the back of an ambulance after they were hit by a car that mounted the pavement in Berlin
Rescue workers work at the site where one person was killed and eight injured when a car drove into a group of people in western Berlin on Wednesday morning
Rescue workers help an injured person after a car crashed into a crowd of people in western Berlin
A first-response helicopter is pictured at the site after a car crashed into a group of people in Berlin
Emeregency crews work at near site after a car crashed into a group of people before hitting a storefront in Berlin
Police officers work at the scene after a car drove into a crowd of people in western Berlin
Police officers stand at a cordoned-off area at the site where a car ploughed into a crowd in Berlin
A police tactical team secures the area, near a car that crashed into a group of people before hitting a storefront
Emergency workers gather next to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, opposite where the crash happened
