Car crashes into crowd in Poland leaving 17 people injured including children

Two left in critical condition as 33-year-old arrested after fleeing the scene, reports suggest

The driver fled the scene in Szczecin before being apprehended, officials said (Google Maps)

Three children are among 17 people injured after a man drove a car into a crowd of people in northwestern Poland.

Two are in a critical condition after the incident in the centre of the seaport city of Szczecin, while a 33-year-old man who fled the scene has been apprehended, the website Poland-24 reported.

“We have an incident here with currently 17 people injured, including three minors and two in critical condition. The person who caused the accident has been detained,” provincial governor Adam Rudawski was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Those who were injured have been taken to hospital, said Mr Rudawski, who governs the Western Pomerania province.

The driver fled the scene at Rodla Square in the seaport’s city centre, before crashing into another vehicle several streets away and fleeing once again, firefighter Tomasz Kubiak told Polish national broadcaster TVP, which carried footage showing emergency vehicles at the scene.

A police spokesperson told reporters: “This was not a terrorist act.”

The pedestrians were hit by a burgundy Ford car, an eyewitness told TVP, which reported that the suspect is a Polish citizen who is not thought to have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but who is believed to have been receiving psychiatric treatment for several years.

The collision occurred at a busy junction at the start of the rush hour, at around 4pm local time, with people waiting at a tram stop among those injured.

Additional reporting by AP