Twelve people were confirmed dead and at least fifty injured last night after a stolen articulated lorry ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in the centre of downtown west Berlin in what was suspected of being a deliberate attack.
The lorry, a large black Scania, smashed into crowds gathered around brightly lit market stalls surrounding the city’s landmark Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church close to Berlin’s Kurfurstendamm boulevard shortly after 8pm local time.
Eyewitnesses said injured victims lay bloodstained on the ground while others fled the scene in panic after the lorry struck, driving at a speed of some 40 mph. More victims were buried under collapsed wooden market stalls.
“A lunatic has driven into the Christmas market. People are screaming. It’s carnage,” one distressed marketgoer told Germany’s Bild newspaper. It was the city’s worst attack in more than a decade.
Police said one of the two drivers was found dead inside the vehicle’s cabin and was thought to have died of injuries sustained in the incident. His suspected co-driver fled, but was arrested shortly afterwards, some 100 yards away.
A police spokesman said the suspected co-driver’s identity was being checked. He said the Scania lorry had Polish number plates and that the lorry had been stolen. “This appears to have been a deliberate attack,” he said.
German television footage showed the entire Christmas market area sealed off by police as ambulance crews ferried bloodstained victims to hospital in the surrounding area.
Eyewitness Mike Fox from Birmingham, told the Associated Press that the lorry missed him by about three metres as it drove into the market, tearing through tables and market stalls.
“It was definitely deliberate,” he said, adding that he had helped people who appeared to have broken limbs and others trapped under Christmas stands.
The incident occurred at the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market, a focal point in west Berlin which stands next to the preserved remains of the city’s World War Two bomb damaged Kaiser Wilhelm church. The site is a famous tourist attraction.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been in contact with the interior minister and the mayor of Berlin, her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, tweeted. "We are in mourning for the dead and hope that the many injured can get help," he added.
The Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD television: "I don't want to use the word 'attack' yet at the moment, although a lot speaks for it."
Mr De Maiziere said that "there is a psychological effect in the whole country of the choice of words here, and we want to be very, very cautious and operate close to the actual investigation results, not with speculation".
Wolfgang Bosbach, an MP from Chancelllor Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic party said: “Although there is a host of unanswered questions, indications are it was a deliberate attack... just a few days before Christmas, in the middle of the German capital and amidst happy, peaceful people. The message is clear: no matter where, no matter how, we can pounce at any time.”
Berlin’s mayor, Michael Müller, said: “What we’re seeing here is dramatic and a shock to us all. We hope what our fears that his is an attack won’t prove true. Our thoughts are with the families of the injured.”
US President-elect Donald Trump condemned the suspected attack, saying in a statement: "Isis and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad."
Unlike France, Britain and Spain, Germany has managed to escape a major terrorist attack during the past decade. But the country’s security services warn that the likelihood of an attack is ever present and have asked the public to remain vigilant.
Last night's incident recalled last July’s terrorist attack in Nice, France, that left 86 people dead. A Tunisian-born man drove a 19-tonne lorry along the beach front, striking down people who had gathered to watch the fireworks on Bastille Day. The attack was claimed by Isis.