Stockholm attack: Witnesses tell of terror as truck ploughs into crowds

'I saw hundreds of people run. They ran for their lives'

Witnesses to the Stockholm lorry attack have told of their terror as they watched the truck career towards crowds in the centre of the Swedish capital.

At least three people are reported to have been killed and more injured when the lorry was driven into people on a busy street around 3.00pm local time on Friday.

Reports suggest the truck, belonging to Swedish brewery Spendrups, had been hijacked earlier in the day.

"I turned around and saw a big truck coming towards me. It swerved from side to side. It didn't look out of control, it was trying to hit people," Glen Foran, an Australian tourist in his 40s, told Reuters.

"It hit people, it was terrible. It hit a pram with a kid in it, demolished it.

"It took a long time for police to get here. I suppose from their view it was quick, but it felt like forever."

One witness, Jan Granroth, told told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet: "We stood inside a shoe store and heard something ... and then people started to scream. I looked out of the store and saw a big truck."

Another, named Anna, described seeing “hundreds of people” running from the lorry.

“I saw hundreds of people run, they ran for their lives. I turned and ran as well”, she said.

One British tourist described a “lifeless body” lying on the ground, covered with a blanket. Harriet Rose-Gale, a reporter, told The Sun: "We were literally 100 or 200 metres away having lunch when a couple of police cars went by followed by about 20-30 emergency vehicles continuously.

"I walked up the road and we could just see a lorry, a truck, and what we could only assume was a lifeless body in front of it. It had a peach or orange towel covering it and there was another body with a white sheet in the middle of the road.

"There were armed police running past us and shouting in Swedish. The police officer said to just keep walking. They are sending people away from the scene.

"We were trying to find out what happened but there was so much panic because of what's just happened in London. Everyone is on high alert.

"There were crowds of people flooding along the street to get away and lots of police officers with guns and lots and lots of sirens.

Serwan Saleme, who witnessed the aftermath of the attack, told Sky News: “There was a lot of cars, people were very confused.

“People were everywhere and they [the police] were shouting at people to stay away from the roads.

“All the major stations are closed right now. There is a lot of chaos going on right now. Everyone is shocked.”

John Backvid was on the scene moments after the attack before emergency services arrived.

“Some people were on the ground doing CPR,” he told BBC News. “The first thing I felt was a bit of smoke in the air.

“I saw a gathering of people and the car on fire – it was deep in the store and the store fire alarm was on. It was quite chaotic.”

“I could not see if anyone was driving it but it got out of control. I saw at least two being run over.

“I ran as fast as I could.”

Swedish police say they believe the incident was a terrorist attack and are searching for a man pictured near the scene of the incident wearing a green jacket, grey hoodie and white shoes.