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'Multiple casualties' after terrorist incidents in central London Reports of multiple casualties in terrorist incidents in central London
(35 minutes later)
London Bridge has been closed after a major incident on Saturday night, with the Metropolitan police confirming ‘multiple casualties’. Two incidents with multiple casualties in central London in which a vehicle ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge and people were stabbed in nearby Borough Market are being treated as terrorism, police have said.
A witness told the BBC that a van had veered off the road at London Bridge and struck people, while the Met responded to a second incident at nearby Borough Market where shots were fired. The Met also responded to a third incident in Vauxhall that was later ruled to be unrelated. Police were called at around 10.08pm on Saturday to reports of a van hitting pedestrians on London Bridge. Officers then attended a second incident at nearby Borough Market after reports of stabbings. Armed officers responded and shots were fired.
The prime minister, Theresa May, told Sky News the event was being treated as a potential act of terrorism. There were reports of three explosions in the area between 1.23am and 1.28am. It was not clear if they were controlled explosions by police on the scene.
Guardian journalist Kate Lyons spoke to witnesses at the scene at London Bridge, who reported stabbings had taken place. The prime minister, Theresa May, said:
Lara Al-Ostta was having drinks with a friend at the Old Thameside Inn underneath London Bridge when she said people came running into the pub and told everyone to run away because “people are stabbing each other”. She will chair a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee on Sunday, Downing Street said.
Al-Ostta said she ended running up on to London Bridge – and she and her friend were told by the police to run away. While on the bridge, Al-Ostta took video, seen by the Guardian, of at least three injured people on the bridge being tended to by emergency services. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, called the terrorist incidents at London Bridge and Borough Market “deliberate and cowardly”, adding: “There is no justification whatsoever for such barbaric acts”.
“I saw people moving, but we thought fuck this is a serious thing,” said Al-Ostta. Witnesses spoke of the van first hitting pedestrians and of occupants of the van jumping out. There were reports of a man armed with a large blade.
Gerard Vowls, 47, had been watching the Champions League final at the Ship pub in Borough. He was at the start of the south side of London Bridge and said he saw a woman being stabbed by three men in their 30s.
“I want to know if this girl is still alive,” he said. “I’ve been walking around for an hour and a half crying my eyes out. I don’t know what to do.”
Vowls said he threw chairs, glasses and bottles at the attackers in a bid to stop the men. “They kept coming to try to stab me ... they were stabbing everyone. Evil, evil people.” It took at least 10 minutes for armed police to reach the scene, he added.
Emergency services were seen treating people lying injured at the junction of Thrale Street and Southwark Street, near Borough Market. One woman was taken away on a stretcher while others sat injured on the ground, with shocked people crying and shouting around them.
Other members of the public were led up Southwark Street away from Southwark Bridge Road, and police officers were seen shouting to people and ordering them to run. Many were in tears, with friends supporting each other and carrying people up the road.
The London Ambulance Service assistant director of operations, Peter Rhodes, said: “We have sent a number of ambulance crews, advanced paramedics and specialist response teams to the scene, with the first of our medics arriving in six minutes. An advanced trauma team from London’s Air Ambulance has also been dispatched by car.”
Police entered bars and warned those inside to get get down.
One witnesses, named as Eric, was on the south side of London Bridge when he saw a van on the wrong side of the road. He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It veered to the right and people were trying to run away from it.” When it stopped, he said three people got out and he thought they were going to help the people who had been hit.
“But the three people literally started kicking them, punching them, and took out knives. It was a rampage really,” he said. The three men ran off towards the nearby bars and restaurants.
Lara Al-Ostta was having drinks with a friend at the Old Thameside Inn underneath London Bridge when she said people came running into the pub and telling everyone to run away because “people are stabbing each other”.
Al-Ostta said she ended running up on to London Bridge – and she and her friend were told by the police to run away. While on the bridge, Al-Ostta took video, seen by the Guardian, of at least three injured people on the bridge, being tended to by emergency services.
“I saw people moving, but we thought - fuck, this is a serious thing,” said Al-Ostta.
Stephen Tull, who is homeless, was under the bridge at the time of the attack when he heard a bang. He says he ran up on to the bridge to help and saw one man who jumped out of the van and began attacking people.Stephen Tull, who is homeless, was under the bridge at the time of the attack when he heard a bang. He says he ran up on to the bridge to help and saw one man who jumped out of the van and began attacking people.
Other Guardian journalists at the scene are continuing to get testimony from witnesses of how the attack unfolded. Olivia Doyle, 23, was travelling across London Bridge in a car with three family members when she heard sirens. Olivia Doyle, 23, was travelling across London Bridge in a car with three family members when she heard the sound of sirens. She told the Guardian: “We arrived to see paramedics running to injured people. There were two people lying on the north end, on the east side of the bridge, just off the pavement. There were bits of what looked like car wreckage. We thought it was bits of bike or something. I saw four or five people lying on the ground, but everyone I saw was alive.
She told the Guardian: “We arrived to see paramedics running to injured people. There were two people lying on the north end, on the east side of the bridge, just off the pavement. There were bits of what looked like car wreckage. We thought it was bits of bike or something. I saw four or five people lying on the ground, but everyone I saw was alive.
“It seemed like some kind of vehicle had knocked people down. They were two or three minutes walk apart, it obviously wasn’t an accident. I saw armed police officers shouting at people to stay in their cars, and pedestrians running past us off the bridge.“It seemed like some kind of vehicle had knocked people down. They were two or three minutes walk apart, it obviously wasn’t an accident. I saw armed police officers shouting at people to stay in their cars, and pedestrians running past us off the bridge.
“We got out of our car and started running, then realised that we’d be better off in the car and we could be blocking the road, and the road was clear behind us except for a taxi that had been abandoned.” “We got out of our car and started running then realised that we’d be better off in the car and we could be blocking the road, and the road was clear behind us except for a taxi that had been abandoned.”
Earlier, Will Heaven, a Spectator journalist who was passing London Bridge minutes after the incident, told Sky News: “It was about 10 past 10. I was in the back of an Uber cab driving south over London Bridge. Suddenly on the lefthand side on the bridge there was somebody down on the pavement with a small crowd around them, clearly concerned. I thought someone had collapsed. Thomas Daly, who was also watching the Champions League final in The Sheaf, said they were locked in. “People were saying there had been a stabbing at Borough Market and they locked us in. We sat down again and some minutes later people started coming into the bar and people were getting hysterical.
“We drove a little further over the bridge. There was another person in the road itself. The penny dropped that something quite serious was happening. The traffic came to a standstill. The Uber driver said something bad is happening here. We could hear sirens coming.” “A lot of people were streaming through the rear exit and we went outside and heard gunshots. I heard at least two gunshots, and at that point the people who were trying to get out the back entrance came back inside. We went outside to the back, there was gunfire and then we decided to come back in again.”
Footage is emerging of the public reaction to the incident on London Bridge. People in a bar were ordered to get back from doors and take cover as the incident unfolded. He said armed police then came into the bar and evacuated people.
Holly Jones, a BBC reporter at the bridge when the incident happened, said a van had swerved off the road into a crowd of pedestrians. “A white van driver came speeding – probably about 50mph – veered of the road into the crowds of people who were walking along the pavement,” she told BBC News. Will Heaven, a Spectator journalist who was passing London Bridge minutes after the incident, told Sky News what he saw: “It was about 10 past 10. I was in the back of an Uber cab driving south over London Bridge.
“He swerved right round me and then hit about five or six people. He hit about two people in front of me and then three behind.I’d say there are about four severely injured people. They all have paramedics assisting them at the moment,” she said. “Suddenly on the left hand side on the bridge there was somebody down on the pavement with a small crowd around them, clearly concerned. I thought someone had collapsed. We drove a little further over the bridge. There was another person in the road itself. The penny dropped that something quite serious was happening.
Transport for London warned people to avoid the area. The Metropolitan police said they were dealing with an incident but gave no further details. London Bridge rail station has been closed at the request of the police. “The traffic came to a standstill. The Uber driver said something bad is happening here. We could hear sirens coming.”
Latika Bourke, a journalist from Fairfax Media, posted footage of people fleeing London Bridge as emergency services continued their work. A third incident, at Vauxhall, was not connected to the terrorist incidents at London Bridge and Borough Market, said Scotland Yard.