A car ploughed into a crowd in Australia ’ s second- largest city on Thursday , injuring at least a dozen people , some of them seriously , officials said .
Witnesses said people were thrown through the air after being hit by the vehicle , which did not appear to be trying to slow down as it “ mowed everybody down” .
Victoria state police said they had arrested the driver of the car after it “ collided with a number of pedestrians ” in downtown Melbourne at a busy intersection just after 4 .30 pm local time (0530 GMT ).
A second man was also arrested by police , who have not yet said whether they believe the driver was acting deliberately .
Paramedics were “ treating and transporting to hospital ” 13 people , with some seriously hurt , ambulance officials said.
Sky News Australia reported that a pre-school child with a head injury was taken to hospital in a serious condition .
Citing witnesses , Sky said a white Suzuki Grand Vitara with two men inside drove into the crowd , with no signs the vehicle made an effort to slow down.
In a tweet , police appealed to members of the public to upload any images they might have of the incident to a cloud address to help assist with their investigation.
A witness , named only as Sue , told Melbourne radio station 3 AW that she heard screams and saw “ people flying everywhere ” .
“ We could hear this noise , as we looked left , we saw this white car , it just mowed everybody down, ” she said .
“ People are flying everywhere . We heard thump , thump . People are running everywhere . ”
Another witness , John, told ABC Radio Melbourne that he saw a “ SUV coming at high speed ” .
“(I) really just heard the collision with people with bags and what must be shopping trolleys — and I hope not prams , ” he said.
“ I’ve really never seen anything like this before and I haven ’ t stopped shaking .”
The incident came months after a car mowed down pedestrians in Melbourne ’s busiest mall in January, killing six people .
The driver , whose case is still being heard in court , had been pursued by police prior to the rampage after he had allegedly stabbed his brother .
The Australian government in August unveiled a strategy aimed at preventing vehicle terror attacks carried out in crowded public places after deadly assaults in Barcelona, Nice and London .
The strategy , commissioned after 86 people were killed in the Nice truck attack last year , offered businesses and local governments a guide to assessing how vulnerable their sites are.
Suggested steps include deterrent options like fencing and closed circuit cameras , and delaying approaches such as trees and bollards to slow down vehicles.
