Barcelona witnesses describe panic and carnage

WITNESSES to the terror attack in Barcelona described how a white van hurtled through crowds without slowing down.

Scores were sent scattering in panic as carnage unfolded on Las Ramblas, a bustling high street often thronged with tourists.

Many were forced to take shelter in nearby shops, while others reported hearing gunshots.

Tom Gueller, who lives in a road adjoining the site of the attack, was forced to flee when the vehicle began hitting pedestrians.

He told BBC’s PM: “I heard screams and a bit of a crash and then I just saw the crowd parting and this van going full pelt down the middle of the Ramblas, and I immediately knew that it was a terrorist attack or something like that.

“I ran away, I mean I live near, I had to run back about 50 metres or so and go up to my flat and obviously see what’s happening on the road from my balcony.”

Asked about the van, he said: “It wasn’t slowing down at all. It was just going straight through the middle of the crowds in the middle of the Ramblas.”

Havoc descended on the Catalan city at the height of the tourist season.

Will Ako, 26, from London, was eating in a restaurant called Taller De Tapas with his family when they heard a disturbance.

He told the Press Association: “We had just finished eating and were about to leave when we heard a commotion and the patrons in the restaurant rushing from their seats.

“I then saw people running to the east of the restaurant and I saw a couple of people, about 30 yards down the road, crouching around