At least five people were killed in the German town of Trier when a car ploughed into a pedestrian zone at high speeds on Tuesday afternoon. Eyewitnesses said the car, a Land Rover, dove in a "zigzag" pattern, hitting pedestrians and sending them flying in the air. The German authorities said the attacked looked like it was deliberate.
Witnesses said the car deliberately crashed into people walking along the shopping zone near the Trier's Roman gate, Porta Nigra. The incident happened at around 1.45pm on Tuesday. Police said 15 more people were injured, some severely.
Trier is a small German town famous as the birthplace of Karl Marx.
The authorities do not suspect a terror angle to the incident as yet. They have arrested the driver of the SUV. The 51-year-old man, a German, was drunk, reports said. The police further added that the man had hired the car and was living in the vehicle for some days. He appeared to have no fixed home address.
One of the victims was a 9-month old baby. An eye witness said she saw a pram fly through the air after being hit by the high-speed SVU.
Among other victims were a 73-year-old woman, a 45-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, all hailing from Trier.
Though the authorities do not attribute a terrorist motive to the dangerous driver, they said the man did appear to have the intent to cause harm, DW reported. They said he drove in a zigzag pattern 'so as to strike people walking along'.
"We have no indication that there was any kind of a terrorist, political or religious motive that could have played a role," Public prosecutor Peter Fritzen told reporters.
Trier's Mayor Wolfram Leibe said it was a dark day for the city. "I just walked through the city center and it was just horrible," he said.
The interior minister of Rhineland-Palatinate Roger Lewentz said Germany was shaken in the aftermath of the incident.
