• Home
• /
• World

Man runs car into crowd killing 3, injuring 34 in Austria

Official says the 26-year-old Austrian driver was “mentally disoriented” and acting alone.

Bicycles lie on a pedestrian street in Graz at the scene of the accident. -AFP

Vienna - A man apparently distraught over personal issues drove his SUV into a crowd on Saturday in Graz, Austria’s second largest city, killing three people and injuring 34 others, officials said.

The governor of the Styria province, Hermann Schuetzenhoefer, gave the casualty figures and described the suspected driver as a 26-year old Austrian who was “mentally disoriented” and acting alone. He said one of the injured is in a critical condition.

Police said the driver had been arrested. They said there were no indications of a terrorist attack, and the suspect was apparently distressed over personal problems when he targeted his victims.

About 60 ambulances converged on the scene and the Austrian auto club sent four helicopters to bring the victims to hospitals.

State broadcaster ORF cited unnamed witnesses as saying the man apparently drove his vehicle into the crowd at random, sending several people crashing into the windshield and flying over the van. Austria’s APA news agency said at least two bodies covered with blankets were seen lying at the scene shortly after it was cordoned off by police.