Two dead in a mass car crash in central Mannheim, southwestern Germany

BarcelonaA car has run over several people in the centre of Mannheim, in south-west Germany, causing at least two deaths, the Interior Ministry of the Baden-Württemberg region confirmed. The suspected perpetrator of the accident, who has been arrested and is in hospital, is a 40-year-old German citizen. Police are working on the assumption that he acted alone. Although there is still no official number of injured, the German newspaper Image The number of patients admitted to a clinic in the city has reached 14, while a clinic in the city has admitted three seriously ill patients, two adults and a child.

The authorities have reported that the incident was deliberate, as the vehicle, travelling at high speed, rammed the pedestrians for several hundred metres. But they believe that the attack was not politically motivated, but that there are indications of a possible psychiatric disorder. "There is no indication of an extremist or religious background regarding the specific motivation for the act. The motivation could be related to the personality of the perpetrator, but this is still being investigated," said the Minister of the Interior of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Thomas Strobl. Police sources also claim that the driver shot himself in the mouth with a pistol at the time of his arrest.

Confined during the police operation

According to police spokesman Stefan Wilhelm, the accident occurred at 12.15pm when a black SUV drove into a pedestrian zone and hit a group of people at a carnival venue. The man allegedly drove the car from Friedrichsring to Planken Street, the city's main shopping street, and hit several pedestrians near Paradeplatz, where there is a carnival market with dozens of food stalls and attractions.

The authorities have sent a message to the population to avoid the city centre. A witness told Reuters that after the accident several people were lying on the ground and that two of them had to be resuscitated. The incident occurred on a day when several cities celebrate Carnival. The German foreign minister, Nancy Faeser, has cancelled her attendance at the Cologne street parade due to the accident.

Elisa Sanz, who lives two minutes from the area where the accident occurred, told ARA by phone that the situation is very chaotic. "The street is cordoned off, we pass by it every day on our way to school. There are lots of ambulances and helicopters. I received a message from my 3-year-old son's school saying they are confined while the police operation lasts."

The incidents come after several similar incidents in Germany in recent months. The most serious occurred on December 20, when a man was killed in a car accident. ran over hundreds of people at a Christmas market in Magdeburg: killed five and left more than 200 injured. On February 13, the day before the Munich Security Conference was due to start, Another man attacked several people who were participating in a union protest in the centre of the Bavarian capital, injuring 36.

Mannheim has also been the scene of violence in recent months. In May and June last year, just before the European Parliament elections, there were two knife attacks. In the first, a man injured three people, including a police officer, while a well-known representative of the Islamophobic far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was taking part in an election rally. A few days later, another local AfD representative was injured with a knife.