A car has plowed into people gathering for Eid prayers near a Newcastle mosque, UK media reports. Six people have been injured and a female driver has been arrested, police said.
The crash occurred outside the Westgate Sports Centre, according to a Northumbria Police statement.
WESTGATE SPORTS CENTRE UPDATE: It is now confirmed that their are six casualties.
— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) June 25, 2017
The incident is not being treated as a terrorist attack, according to police.
A 42-year-old woman is in police custody.
Northumbria Police initially reported that five people had been injured, but later revised the number to six.
What I just seen is scary the car running over the people but not on purpose she was trying to hold the brakes and hit the people
— Abz. (@Riskyy_Abz) June 25, 2017
Witness Asif Anwar, 29, told the Chronicle that there are two children among the injured.
“The lady lost control of the car and hit some people. Two of them were kids,” he said. “It was chaos, everyone was panicking. People just don’t know what is going on these days. Terrorism is what everyone was thinking straight away.”
A separate witness told the Chronicle that two people were “very, very seriously injured.”
Another witness took to Twitter to explain that the collision apparently wasn’t intentional.
“What I just seen is scary, the car running over the people but not on purpose, she was trying to hold the brakes and hit the people,” he wrote.
“There has been an incident on Westgate Road, but we do not believe it is terror related. It is an accident as far as we can see,” a police spokesperson told the Chronicle.
He added that the injured have been taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary.
