NINE people were last night reported to have been killed and many others seriously injured when an articulated lorry ploughed into a busy Christmas market in Berlin.
Police said the truck rammed into stalls outside the German capital’s popular Christmas attraction at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. They believe it was a deliberate attack.
Bild newspaper posted a picture of a large Scania truck with its windscreen smashed out on the pavement alongside the market.
Eyewitness Mike Fox, visiting the city from Birmingham, said the lorry missed him by only about three metres as it sped past, tearing through tables and wooden stands.
“It was definitely deliberate.”
He said he helped people who appeared to have broken limbs, and that others were trapped under Christmas stands.
A second British witness Emma Rushton, who was in the market, saw the lorry rush past her and said it could not have been an accident.
She told Sky News she only missed being caught in the chaos because she had climbed up some steps to take a seat.
Rushton said: “The stall that we bought our mulled wine from was completely crushed. People were tearing off wooden panels to get out.”
She added: “It was not an accident. It was going 40mph, it was in the middle of the market.
“There was no way that it could have come off the road and it showed no signs of slowing down.”
German police later said they had arrested a suspect believed to be the driver of the lorry near the scene.
Police spokesman Winfried Wenzel told ZDF public television that the man was arrested near the scene.
Berlin police later tweeted a message urging people to stay at home and not spread rumours about the incident, adding that officers were working at full speed.
In Scotland, after news of the incident broke, the First Minister tweeted: “Terrible news. My thoughts with all involved.”
Julian King, European commissioner for the security union, tweeted: “My thoughts are with all those affected and their families in #Berlin tonight.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are urgently investigating reports of an incident near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin and are in close contact with local authorities.”
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