An eyewitness describes the attack on a German Christmas market

A woman who was with her boyfriend at a Christmas market in Magdeburg told local media that she was holding her boyfriend in her arms when the car used in the attack came speeding toward them.

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

Footage published by German media showed a black car ramming into a crowd of people at high speed and continuing forward for hundreds of metres.

Nadine’s friend is said to have suffered injuries to his leg and head.

Another eyewitness, Gianni Warzecha, told the BBC that he was listening to Christmas music in the market with his girlfriend’s family when he “suddenly heard a roaring sound and the sound of breaking glass.”

“People started to panic,” he added. “I saw the car and people on the ground, people bleeding. There were children too.

“I was focusing on providing first aid to people. It took a few minutes for the paramedics to arrive, but that was not enough because there were already 200 people injured.”

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

Lars Frommöller, a correspondent for public broadcaster MDR, who arrived at Magdeburg’s Christmas market shortly after the attack, told the BBC what he saw.

“There were ambulances everywhere, there were police, there were a lot of firefighters.

“This was a really chaotic situation. We saw blood on the floor, we saw people sitting next to each other with gold and silver foil surrounding them. We saw many doctors trying to warm people and help them treat their injuries.

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

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

Rausch said he had not reached the market when “suddenly we heard a muffled noise and the roar of an engine.”

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

Once he was out of danger, Rausch said he was able to film the moment police arrested the suspect.

Local officials said in a press conference that their citizens provided vital first aid to the injured in the moments before emergency services arrived at the scene.

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

“We could have been beaten,” Janke told Reuters as she lit a candle in honor of those involved in the tragedy. She said she was horrified by what happened, “Somehow you can’t believe it.”

She was joined by many other local residents who brought flowers and candles to the church near the site of the attack.

Corina Pagels, a local employee of a consulting organization, said she was at the market herself early Friday. She said community healing begins now.

“Of course, it gets to you and we also need to address things, and fortunately we have a good network and we are also there to provide aftercare and support to the rescuers and firefighters in the aftermath. So, the real work starts now.”