Eyewitness describes German Christmas market attack

A woman who was with her boyfriend at the Christmas market in Magdeburg has told local media she had her boyfriend in her arms when the car used in the attack came speeding towards them.

“He was hit and pulled away from my side. It was terrible,” 32-year-old Nadine told the Bild newspaper.

Another eyewitness, Gianni Warzecha, told the BBC he was listening to Christmas music at the market with his girlfriend’s family when “suddenly there was a rumbling and the sound of shattered glass”.

“People began to panic,” he said. “I saw the car and people on the floor, people bleeding. There were also kids.

“I was concentrating on getting first aid to people. It took a few minutes for the first paramedics to arrive but it wasn’t enough because there were already 200 people hurt.

“Most of the first aid was done by people there.”

Lars Frohmüller, a reporter for the public broadcaster MDR who arrived at the Christmas market in Magdeburg shortly after the attack, told the BBC about what he saw.

“Everywhere were ambulances, there were police, there were a lot of fire workers.

“This was a real chaotic situation. We saw blood on the floor, we saw people sitting beside each other and having golden and silver foils around them. And we saw many doctors trying to keep people warm and help them with their injuries.

“It’s a big shock. It’s a big shock for every people here in Magdeburg and for every person in Saxony-Anhalt.”

Tobias Rausch, who was at the Christmas market and serves as general secretary of Germany’s far-right AfD party in Saxony-Anhalt, told Reuters it was scary.

Rausch said he had not reached the market when “all of a sudden, we heard a muffled noise, an engine roaring”.

“People were screaming. It all happened in a fraction of a second.”

Once away from danger, Rausch said he was able to film the moment police detained the suspect.

Local officials told a news conference that fellow citizens had given vital first aid to those hurt in the moments before emergency services arrived on the scene.

One Magdeburg resident, Heike Janke, was at the Christmas market on Friday and left at around 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT), roughly an hour before the attack took place.

“We could have been hit,” Ms Janke told Reuters, as she lit a candle for those involved in the tragedy. She said she felt appalled by what happened, “somehow you just can’t believe it”.

She was joined by many other locals who brought flowers and candles to a church near where the attack happened.

Corinna Pagels, a local and employee with a counselling organisation, said she was at the market herself early on Friday. She said the healing for the community starts now.

“Of course, it gets to you and we also need to process things and thankfully we have a good network and are also there to provide aftercare for rescue workers and firefighters and support them in the aftermath. So the real work starts now.”