Not less than two individuals have been killed and dozens have been injured after a automobile plowed right into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday. Authorities mentioned it gave the impression to be a deliberate assault.
The driving force of the automobile was arrested on the scene, Magdeburg police confirmed. They said their present assumption is that he was a “lone perpetrator.”
The state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, described it as “a lone assault.” He mentioned at a information convention on the scene in Magdeburg that the suspect was a 50-year-old physician who arrived in Germany in 2006. He mentioned the person had indefinite permission to remain and work within the nation.
Authorities mentioned the motive force had no felony report, and the attainable motive is unknown. The world surrounding the car was sealed off by investigators.
Haseloff mentioned the 2 individuals confirmed useless have been an grownup and a toddler. He mentioned a minimum of 60 individuals have been injured and that extra deaths couldn’t be dominated out. Tamara Zieschang, Saxony-Anhalt’s inside minister, mentioned the variety of injured was 68, with 15 harm very critically.
Craig Stennett / Getty Pictures
“It was an actual chaotic state of affairs,” Lars Frohmüller, a reporter for German public broadcaster MDR, informed CBS News companion BBC.
“We noticed blood on the ground, we noticed individuals sitting beside one another … and we noticed many medical doctors making an attempt to maintain individuals heat and assist them with their accidents,” he mentioned.
“In every single place have been ambulances, there have been police, there have been a whole lot of firefighters.”
Shortly after the crash, Magdeburg’s College Hospital mentioned it was caring for 10 to twenty sufferers however was getting ready for extra, dpa information company reported.
The sounds of sirens from first responders clashed with the market’s vacation decorations, together with ornaments, stars and leafy garland festooning the distributors’ cubicles. Footage from the scene of a cordoned-off a part of the market confirmed particles on the bottom.
“This can be a horrible occasion, notably now within the days earlier than Christmas,” Haseloff mentioned.
Heiko Rebsch/image alliance through Getty Pictures
Chancellor OIaf Scholz posted on X: “My ideas are with the victims and their family members. We stand beside them and beside the individuals of Magdeburg.”
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen additionally despatched condolences and wrote, “This act of violence have to be investigated and severely punished.”
Following the incident, the New York Police Division said it has deployed assets to numerous Christmas markets and different areas across the metropolis “out of an abundance of warning,” however mentioned it had not recognized any particular or credible threats.
Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 residents.
The suspected assault got here eight years after an assault on a Christmas market in Berlin. On Dec. 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist plowed through a crowded Christmas with a truck, killing 13 individuals and injuring dozens extra. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Christmas markets are an enormous a part of German tradition, an annual vacation custom cherished because the Center Ages and efficiently exported to a lot of the Western world. In Berlin alone, greater than 100 markets opened late final month and introduced the smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital. Different markets abound throughout the nation.
German Inside Minister Nancy Faeser mentioned late final month that there have been no concrete indications of a hazard to Christmas markets this yr, however that it was clever to be vigilant. She said Friday on social media, “The information from Magdeburg is deeply surprising. The emergency providers are doing all the pieces they’ll to take care of the injured and save lives. Our ideas are with the victims and their households.”
This can be a growing story. Please test again for updates.
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