Sky News — Dec 19, 2016
At least nine people have died after a lorry ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin in a suspected terror attack.
Around 50 others were injured, including four seriously, and the suspected driver has been arrested.
The co-driver reportedly died in the crash which happened at the popular market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
Emma Rushton, who was just several feet from the crash, told Sky News: “It wasn’t an accident. It was going at 40mph through the middle of the market.
“There was no way it could have come off the road and it showed no signs of slowing down.”
Ms Rushton said of the scene: “There were lots and lots of people. This is Monday evening, people had finished work. There were tourists there.”
She added: “We were about eight feet away from where it happened.
“We were sitting and drinking – then we heard a really loud bang, some of the Christmas lights being pulled down.
“We saw the articulated lorry going through people and just pulling everything down. It was very difficult to be there.”
She went on: “There were lots of people screaming and yelling. The stall we bought our mulled wine from was completely crushed.
“We went back to our hotel, we just didn’t want to stay. We didn’t know if something else was going to happen.”
Another witness Mike Fox said the lorry missed him by only about three metres as it drove into the market.
“It was definitely deliberate,” said the tourist from Birmingham.
He said he helped people who appeared to have broken limbs, and that others were trapped under Christmas stands.
In July this year, a lorry ploughed into a crowd in the French city of Nice, killing 86 people.