Six people have died after an out-of-control bin lorry hit pedestrians in a busy area of central Glasgow.
Witnesses described bodies lying in the road after the incident in the George Square area, which police do not think had a sinister motive. It occurred as the city centre was crowded with Christmas shoppers.
A Police Scotland statement said: “Regarding a major road incident in George Square, Glasgow, please note that we can confirm that six people have been fatally injured as a result.”
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It said seven people had also been seriously injured.
Lead Supt Stewart Carle of Police Scotland said at the scene that the lorry hit several pedestrians as it careered along the road resulting in “multple fatalities”.
Supt Carle described the incident as “a road traffic accident, nothing more sinister...For now it does not look to be a criminal or deliberate act that has taken place here this afternoon, but we need to have time to investigate it.”
The driver of the bin lorry has also been taken to hospital and is receiving treatment but Supt Carle said he could not comment on what the driver was being treated for.
He said that at “about 2.30pm a Glasgow City Council bin lorry was travelling north on Queen Street outside the Gallery of Modern Art when it was in a collision with a pedestrian”.
Supt Carle said: “The bin lorry then has continued north on Queen Street, it would appear to have gone up on the footway and there have been a number of other pedestrians it has collided with.”
He said: “There will be a lot of distressed people and certainly the city will need to come round those people that have been traumatised by the incident. But our officers, the ambulance officers, the fire officers, the city council officers they are all working together as quickly as possible to bring the scene to a conclusion.”
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon said her thoughts were “with everyone involved in dreadful George Square incident. If you are in city centre, please let your relatives know you are OK.”
Prime minister David Cameron said he was being kept fully briefed on the incident. “My thoughts are with the families of those involved and the emergency services.”
Witness Melanie Greg said the lorry travelled 150 yards along the pavement before crashing in George Square.
She told Sky News: “The bin lorry just lost control. It went along the pavement, knocking everyone like pinballs.
“There was a baby in a buggy, and it just continued knocking people down until it ended up in the building. Quite horrific, very scary.
“The only way it stopped was hitting the building.”
Police Scotland assistant chief constable Wayne Mawson, local policing commander for the west, said: “Investigations continue into the circumstances of the tragic incident in George Square today.
“While those investigations are continuing, we can confirm that this is not a terrorism-related incident.”
Tragedy struck barely a year after the Clutha Bar helicopter crash in the city. Ten people died when a police helicopter crashed on to the roof of the pub on November 29th last year.
PA