Berlin lorry witnesses tell of screams and shock at Christmas market

Visitors at a busy Christmas market in Berlin fell silent after a truck ploughed through crowds killing 12 people, a witness has said.

Jan Hollitzer (36) said he heard screams as the vehicle made its way through the stalls, but that the market was “really silent” as “shocked” shoppers looked on at the aftermath.

Mr Hollitzer, deputy editor-in-chief of local news outlet Berliner Morgenpost, said he saw “more than one” person lying underneath the truck.

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Forensic experts examine the scene around the truck. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty

He was standing between 40 and 50 metres away from the Berlin City Weihnachtsmarkt at Breitschiedplatz when the incident happened.

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He told the Press Association: “First, I heard a noise, then he destroyed the booths on the market and we heard some screams, and then the truck came out of the market on the left side.”

Mr Hollitzer said he walked across the street to the market and saw destroyed stalls, broken glass, crockery and tables, and injured people lying on the ground.

“I moved forward and saw the back of the truck — it was a lorry,” he said.

“There were some people under the truck and it was really scary, really terrifying.

“I moved on the street to see the front of the truck, which was destroyed.”

Mr Hollitzer, who lives in Berlin, said that it became “more noisy” as emergency services arrived at the scene and the initial shock of onlookers subsided.

Olaf Hermann, manager of an Irish pub 50 metres from the scene, said the market was not very busy on Monday evening.

“I’ve been outside and I’ve seen the truck, I’ve seen the guys, I’ve seen some of the dead guys as well, there was panic there,” said Mr Hermann.

Briton Emma Rushton, who was at the scene, said the market lights were torn down as the truck ploughed through.

She told the The New York Times that the vehicle had "completely decimated" the hut in front of her, adding: "It happened so quickly that people wouldn't have had an opportunity to get out of the way.

“People were sitting, holding their heads. There were pools of blood on the floor. There were people in the recovery position.

“And it was completely decimated — the wood, glass, everything everywhere.”

Mike Fox, from Birmingham, told The Associated Press that the truck had missed him by about three metres.

He said he had seen people trapped under stalls and others who appeared to have broken limbs.

“You do what you can to help who you can, really,” he said.

“It happened so fast that there was nothing we could do to stop it — if we’d tried to stop it we would have been crushed.”

PA