9 injured as car rams crowd of rugby fans in Australia, driver likely lost control
A car rammed into a crowd standing on a road to cheer on the Newcastle Knights rugby team north of Sydney on Saturday, injuring multiple people, Associated Press reported, citing Australian officials.
Police said initial indications suggested the incident was not terrorism related. (Representative)New South Wales Ambulance officials said the incident occurred on Saturday morning and that several people were being treated at the scene. Two of those injured were taken to the hospital in a critical condition, Reuters quoted a spokesperson as saying.
The driver was arrested at the scene in the city's suburb of Wallsend, about 110 kilometres north of the New South Wales state capital. Police said initial indications suggested the incident was not terrorism related, Reuters reported.
Gavin Morris, the mayor of Newcastle, told the ABC News that nine people had been injured after the driver, who he said was a Knights fan, lost control while revving his car shortly before the team arrived.
The fans were waiting on Saturday for the team bus ahead of a rugby league finals match on Sunday.
“I’ve spoken to the authorities, a number of which, and look, first of all, it is under investigation, and the young driver is now with police, so it appears that he was revving the car in some form. He was excited. He was a supporter. He was, you know, a fan,” Morris said.
“It appears that he’s lost control of the car, and he’s gone into the crowd. And I believe about nine were injured, which sadly also included children [after] … he’s gone sideways into the crowd,” the mayor added.
Thousands had been cheering the team on this week as they trained, the Australian Associated Press reported. Another large crowd was on the street Saturday morning to see the team bus off ahead of Sunday's finals.
Footage posted on social media appeared to show the car being driven quickly around a roundabout shortly before the crash. Other images showed it had careened onto a footpath soon afterwards.
The Newcastle Link Road was closed in both directions, leading to the diversion of the Knights' grand final procession.
The club confirmed in an Instagram post that it had changed its route, apologising to fans who may have missed the chance to farewell the team but saying “public safety is our priority”.
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