A suspect has been arrested after a truck drove through a Christmas market in Berlin today, killing nine people and injuring up to fifty in what has been described as one of the deadliest attacks in Germany in decades.
Berlin police confirmed they had arrested a suspect, and that another passenger in the truck had “died on the spot” when the truck careened through the market at Breitscheidplatz.
The police confirmed the arrest via Twitter, writing that “a suspicious person was arrested near Breitscheidplatz. Whether it is the driver of the truck, is currently under consideration.”
BREAKING: German police arrest driver suspected of plowing truck into crowd at Christmas market in Berlin: police spokesman on local TV
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) December 19, 2016
The police confirmed that many college students were among those injured and killed during the attack. Witnesses have begun to speak to the media about the attack, articulating the confusion and terror of the scene.
“We heard a loud bang,” tourist Emma Rushton told CNN. “We started to see the top of an articulated truck, a lorry … just crashing through the stalls, through people.”
It is believed that the truck itself was registered to a company in Stettin, Poland. It was on its way back to Poland after departing from Italy when the company lost contact with the driver. It is unknown whether the driver was involved, though there is high suspicion that the vehicle was hijacked.
The Berlin state interior minister has called for calm, and has refused to identify the incident as an attack until more information is gathered. By contrast, Facebook is allowing users to check in as ‘safe’, and have named the event The Attack On Berlin, Germany.
We’ll keep you posted as more info emerges.
Source: The Guardian.
Photo: Getty Images.
