Melbourne Crash: Car Driven into Crowd Is «Deliberate Act», 14 Injured
Local Editor
Fourteen people have been injured after a car ploughed into a crowd in central Melbourne in what police described as a "deliberate act".
The SUV hit a large number of pedestrians on the pavement outside a major railway station in the Australian city.
Police said the driver and another man have been arrested after what they said they believed "was a deliberate act". Asked if the incident was terrorism-related, the force said the motivation was unknown.
One witness told how she heard screams before she saw "people flying everywhere" outside Flinders Street station at around 5pm local time (6am GMT) on Thursday.
Others reported that the white Suzuki SUV, which had two men inside, appeared not to slow down before it crashed into a tram stop.
Images from the scene showed a number of people receiving medical attention. The second arrested man is believed to have been held by police on the steps of the station.
Police said 14 people had been taken to hospital with injuries, including several who were described as being critically ill.
They included a pre-school aged child with head injuries who was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
Victoria Police said the SUV had collided with "a number of pedestrians" on Flinders Street, a busy junction in the city center.
The force said in a statement: "Police have saturated the CBD (central business district) area following an incident where a car has collided with a number of pedestrians on Flinders Street.
"The incident occurred when the vehicle struck a number of pedestrians in front of Flinders Street Station just after 4.30pm.
"The driver of the vehicle and a second man have been arrested and are in police custody.
"A number of people were treated at the scene for a range of injuries and have been transported to hospital."
In a tweet, police appealed to members of the public to upload any images they might have of the incident to a cloud address to help assist with their investigation.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
