The busy area of Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain has been filled with a horrific sight after a van plowed over pedestrians in what has been confirmed as a terrorist attack, by the local police.
Eyewitness to the incident say, that the van ran over people walking on the sideway and kept running for about 400 meters, as people tried to escape on either side of road.
The horrifying eye-witness accounts and videos posted online, show the disturbing images of the scene – as bleeding and severely injured victims lay all across the pavement, while other people present at the spot try to help them.
TMZ reports that at least 13 people have died so far, while over 50 have been injured. Las Ramblas’ local police officials say, that the numbers are expected to increase and the area should be avoided as long as their investigations are going on.
Footage terrorist attack #Ramblas #Barcelona with rental van. Hostage situation ongoing in a restaurant. pic.twitter.com/NDhyT5hBQt— NieuwsBlog (@nieuwsblog) August 17, 2017
im so scared omg my beautiful barcelona pic.twitter.com/Ezs4oiTDcL— lai (@skmbiebs) August 17, 2017
John Ward, a resident of Las Ramblas, gave a few more details of the scene while speaking to BBC.
“There’s a very heavy police presence and what they’ve been doing is going from establishment to establishment knocking on the doors, knocking on the shutters.
People have opened the shutters, they’ve been brought out on to the street and once it’s been established that they’re not the people they are looking for, they’ve been escorted away from this particular area.
Now nobody is moving on La Ramblas unless they’re under police escort.”
Dozens of injured people were seen lying across the pavement in videos and pictures posted online as paramedics and ambulances arrived for help.
At least one armed suspect is said to be hiding in the nearby area.
Story developing…