Newcastle Eid celebration: Woman bailed after crash

A woman has been bailed after six people, including three children, were injured when a car mounted a kerb and ploughed into a crowd of people.

The crash happened outside Newcastle's Westgate Sports Centre where an Eid event was taking place.

Northumbria Police said four people remained in hospital on Monday being treated for "various injuries".

The force added that a 42-year-old woman has been released on conditional bail pending further investigation.

The incident was not believed to be terrorism-related.

Of the three children hospitalised, two were in intensive care.

The woman who was arrested had been celebrating the end of Ramadan with her family and hundreds of others when the collision happened at 09:14 BST on Sunday.

One eyewitness said: "From what I understand [a woman who had been at prayer] was about to leave in her car and I believe she lost control.

"I ran up straight away because everyone was moving in on all the injured, trying to put water in their mouths.

"The parents of the kids were there. I had to sort of try and calm them down just to tell them the ambulance is there and they will take care of it; they know what they're doing."

Emergency services included six ambulances, two paramedic rapid response vehicles and the air ambulance.

In a statement, the nearby Newcastle Central Mosque said: "We pray and hope that all those affected recover soon fully.

"We thank the emergency medical services, the police and over 100 volunteers from the mosque for their quick response to the incident.

"We urge everyone to please pray for all those affected."

Chi Onwurah, Labour MP for Newcastle Central, tweeted: "So sad, I was at the prayers earlier & there were so much joy & unity. Thinking of those affected by what I am told was terrible accident."

We were here for Eid. Everyone had just finished praying. The imam had finished his speech and everyone was talking to their families and getting some food.

Then we heard a commotion and screaming.

I ran up to the hill. A man got out of the passenger side. He seemed distraught.

Someone was trapped under the car and then everyone just pushed the car so they were free.

They were two children there, one of them - he was a boy about eight - was really badly injured,

There were about five doctors there so he had a lot of medical attention. We checked to see he had a pulse.

Everyone locked arms so there was a ring of locked arms around the injured people so they had space and the ambulances could get to them.

Everyone was distraught. I am very grateful it's not an attack.

It's very shocking to see a child injured like that. We are all hoping that he is fine, I just want to hear that.

Abdul Mahdoul, who was at the event, said: "We were wishing everyone happy Eid and suddenly we heard a lot of shouting and screaming. We didn't know what it was.

"People were panicking. The police did a great job to calm the situation down.

"It was a very happy atmosphere beforehand, but afterwards just chaos. I just wish for the people to recover very quickly."

Councillor Dipu Ahad said: "We saw people crying and sobbing, it was like what you see in a horror movie, people were crying on the street, in corners.

"It was a real sad situation to see this and I think people were in confusion about what really happened.

"I had tears in my own eyes - it was a day of celebration for Muslims and others as well and it's a very sad situation and I hope this never happens again."

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