Car rams crowd
Man detained at the scene, several people injured
Several injured as car crashes into pedestrians outside London’s Natural History Museum. Cops detain man who ‘was laughing’.
LONDON: British emergency services raced to London’s Natural History Museum after a car struck pedestrians outside the building.
Police said a number of people were injured and one person was detained at the scene.
The crash happened in the late afternoon yesterday, on a day when the central London museum is usually teeming with pedestrians, including international tourists.
Photographs showed a dented silver car and a man being pinned to the ground outside the museum.
Witness Katie Craine said she was coming out of the museum when she saw a man in handcuffs pinned down by police officers near a damaged car.
“He looked really proud of himself,” she said. “He was laughing.”
British officials, however, have not classified the incident as a terrorist act.
“From what we’ve seen in the methodology of other attacks I wouldn’t rule it out, but we just don’t have enough information on the ground to determine that at this point,” said a British security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about the investigation.
The London Ambulance Service tended to the injured. There was no immediate statement on the number or severity of the injuries.
Shopkeepers in the immediate area were told to evacuate and police established a large security cordon around the area minutes after the incident, closing some roads.
Police helicopters also circled the scene overhead.
Police said they were working to establish the circumstances of the crash and that more information would be provided once details were clear.
The Natural History Museum tweeted that there had been a “serious incident” outside the museum, which is located near the worldfamous Victoria and Albert Museum and other attractions.
Downing Street said British Prime Minister Theresa May had been briefed on the incident.
London’s official terrorist threat level has been set at “severe”, indicating that an attack is highly likely.
There have been a series of terror attacks on London and Manchester this year, including vehicle attacks on pedestrians at Westminster Bridge and London Bridge. —
He (the man detained) looked really proud of himself. He was laughing.
Katie Craine