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

BarcelonaA car has hit several people in the centre of Mannheim, in south-west Germany, causing at least two deaths, the interior ministry of the Baden-Württemberg region has 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 hypothesis that he acted alone. Although there is still no official number of injured, the German newspaper Bild puts the number at 14, while a clinic in the city has admitted three seriously injured patients, two adults and a child.

The authorities have not given a motive for the crime, nor have they confirmed that the accident was deliberate, although local media are working on this hypothesis because the vehicle, which was travelling at high speed, rammed pedestrians for several hundred metres. However, the police ruled out that the suspect had an extremist or religious background. Bild newspaper, meanwhile, reports that the driver shot himself in the mouth with a pistol at the time of his arrest.

Confined during 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.