you're back with r t international my names you know neal good to have your company this hour we begin again with our breaking news story at least two people have reportedly being killed and several more injured after a van crashed into a crowd of pedestrians in the center of barcelona the incident which police are treating as terror related happened in the let's run less tourist area and run five in the evening barcelona time please be warned the images were about to show you from the scene are highly disturbing.

he'll. get us cross live now to our t's emily for more on this emily as usual when something like this happens a lot of stuff is not verified yet what do we know at this stage. you know you're absolutely right a figure information is coming in as we speak but so far we know at least two people have been killed and several more injured after a van rammed into pedestrian crowds on one of the most popular and busy as tourist areas at the la avenue in the middle of barcelona now unconfirmed reports cited by the local spanish media say that up to thirteen people happened killed that again is an unconfirmed report we're also reading that police sources are saying that

more than twenty people have been injured after this horrific incident so as you've said the police are now treating this as a terror related incident and the driver of the vehicle he apparently fled the scene and is thought to be armed and holed up in a bar in the nearby area and people are being advised to stay away from this area and stay indoors and as i've said you can only imagine the reaction of the tourists that staying there right now is the peak of the tourist season in barcelona bubbling one of the major tourist attractions in the city this incident really has shocked many people. from berlin on what has been occurring in barcelona of the pubs are enough thank you very much for that it's well our ileus is a witness of the attack i believe he joins us live on the line you're very welcome to the program and wardo can you please tell us what you saw there. i was here at

home my balcony gets through la rambla i listened to the noise of cracks and people screaming then i went to the balcony and i so the. soap and. all around the whole of people in the floor i saw a lot of blood. and then police start disappearing from everywhere and they arrived the ambulances. for some more than one hour here he was. terrible you actually saw what is believed to be the plywood ensure that people can you just tell us what happened when did you see people leave the van at that stage . when it happened when the brain was acting on the people running over them i was. looking by the balcony and i still just. when i listened to the screams

and i went to the balcony to see and then i would see the people running away. a lot. and. really very worrying situation and i so then the police arriving the. the ambulances and one. central. two lanes for cars at the side and. on them from the running over all the people. of. all europe is in the holidays and. many many people here is full of people all day . and they all agree here but especially so it was a lot of people very crowded as you said you were overlooking. you were on your balcony if it's possible right.

here from the balcony the device that you're on is it possible for you to lifted and actually go to the balcony so we can see what the scenes are like right now. i think you may just with my bio but not with a computer i can compute that this about in the story ok we just wanted to see what the latest scenes were there but we will try and get you more on not how that's what they can. yeah that's fine how how quick what's the response from the authorities because as you say it's the height of the tourist season so many people there i imagine it was fast did you see the authorities arriving ambulances police . from everywhere. but. many many many police. use it but one in the specially in the cartel and police but in my opinion the ambulance is maybe a little more of the same maybe because it was the end of. the plaza followed the

van maybe there were more people also at the beginning of a lot rambler and here was the end of the path that followed maybe they took a little more to the right but the police was immediate immediate it was full of police but in seconds i just listened the screams i went to the balcony i so everybody running. police arriving from everywhere the police immediate the help. the police a lot of time when you saw this was it a sense that this is an attack happening or a car accident because we have seen car ramming into people in various other cities but not in barcelona if it is turned out to be a terrorist attack this would be new for barcelona have you been talking to people what is the sense there on the streets. everybody was

afraid that these couldn't could happen but until now. you know this things you see them on t.v. and you always think this is something that happens very far you don't think this will happen here and. you find the. ok well thank you very much for coming on the program and sharing what you saw a traumatic experience i'm sure for you and your neighbors and the people on the street seeing that eduardo las witness of the mike thank you. thank you all right if you're just joining us welcome to r.t. international our continuing breaking news this hour a vama say the crowds of people in one of barcelona's main target areas they have. area street there you're looking at elise moving people possibly locals possibly tourists a very busy season away from that region where the vonage white van

a sizable of his beliefs are crushed into a number of people the fatalities are not known yet at least two we are hearing local reports from radio in barcelona that possibly up to thirteen people are dead we have to wait for verification all of that we do not know at this stage i have to stress spanish police have said that there was a must have crush as you can see emergency services working at the scene and i'm sure a lot of you watching here will be very familiar with barcelona possibly you're from there possibly you were there all vacation. images you will know them the area of low goes right down to the keys down into the sea goes on for about a kilometer it's a it's a very busy area particularly in august. we're hearing varying reports we're just trying to. see what we know so far for sure in

the area. just we were talking to one of the witnesses there as you might have heard saying that he saw the at. actually hit the people that people got then of the and we're waiting for cation as to where they are and what is the situation with the attackers if they do turn out to be. hawkins is in the studio with me and we've just been watching this unfold. it's very evocative of what we saw particularly last summer in a number of other cities we do not know exactly what caused this who the people where we're waiting on that but there are very much echoes of a terrorist attack here indeed well the police have confirmed the truth of the incident as terror related it was quite evident from the start that what happened here had very little chance of being an accident for those viewers who have been to

london are familiar with london the. that area the square running down to the christopher columbus monument is the equivalent of oxford street perhaps in central london and credibly busy exactly as one of our witnesses said before locals actually avoid that area because it's so packed and it's more it's especially in the heart of one of the season so it would have been what many experts would describe as a soft terror target it's very hard as another one of our experts said to prevent these sorts of attacks which we have seen as you said in nice it began last year and in the summer of twenty sixteen as many as eighty six people died going on to the burning christmas market attack that that winter then london westminster bridge and london bridge combined with a knife attack and of course you know we must mention that there's unconfirmed reports that the driver of the van is still at large there's. manhunt currently underway which is why are the areas on lockdown of course police advice to people in these situations is to run hide help in the event of

a suspected terror attack but we understand from what people are saying the area the surrounding bus stops train stations metro has all but a complete lockdown for the last hour and a half hour and forty minutes or so as many as six hundred people are just sitting around in cafes restaurant on lockdown on police and some of the live pictures we saw just earlier there of people being taken out in small groups again evoking memories of what happened in. paris and london of course as well that's something you mention there is very true you're going to have a lot of people in the height of summer sitting eid on the boulevard enjoying this summer maybe having an ice cream having a coffee if you've got a van of this size going down and i'm just reading t.v. three television a local station in barcelona saying that a lot of witnesses are saying that it went very very fast so in that situation you're hoping that there are not a lot of fatalities but the situation is who knows indeed and we understand

obviously the police were on scene very quickly there was probably a large police presence there to start with and that would have increased the chances of the being stopped and as you mentioned they're traveling fast some witnesses saying it traveled as fast as eighty kilometers an hour with this sort of commercial truck commercial van we also understand it was it was rented that information coming in of course as the potential to cause such a large number of casualties and speaking of casualties were understand from local sources at least the death toll may be as high as thirteen or fourteen no of course that may go down but ambulances are still arriving on scene when less than about eighty to ninety minutes after the incident so the scale of the incident really can't be underestimated it's quite incredible ok the incident as we have mentioned happened on the rumbler street a major tourist looking. in this city the area's full of souvenir shops bars cafe is on is also willing to count of the many square barcelona's central square

according to the reports the turn from the square mounted on to the pavement and then drove down the street. ok let's cross not to amer anwar who i believe was out the scene at the time of the attack and you're very welcome amer what did you see there on the rumble a street. well i've just. come on to the blues and smoking place was extremely crowded for someone. to respond with children. and then i was about to sit down and decided spots you created in the fall just keep walking on on and the pen seconds by ten seconds to have the sort of twanging noise the same time tremendous screams and it was a slight watching a human comma launch because of the very same time people started screaming and

running so everybody stopped because one people were jumping shocks out about fifteen seconds i stopped running because i didn't know where i was running and why i was running off in the crash and the noise the screaming on them just as a skull woman next to me there's a guy who'd run was running behind me i think you've been goli up to understand some of what you say not to me he spoke or do he said he'd seen the bonnet closed into the crowed liz ramblas and miss p.d.'s again said it's six am and the air is just by reasons of choice and it's a pebbly protester nightmare in the middle on the left and the right small not of lanes which cars can go down anybody driving of on or any car anything into gaza would cause major mayhem and serious casualties this man said to me a full five to sixty who was seriously injured and possibly dead point. police officers but were very quick on the scene with guns plainclothes officers get approved jackets whatever shouting waving the guns to almost moved by

a woman next to me to just keep standing i was screaming she was hysterical and she was screaming because chris also time responds to a scream for children because she could see at children. and then we'll move to move to move on now when. situation is. going up a con get to and. from the information we get in a police office is very chatty but keep moving and then. i mean the place not the same terms of the maji says he responds almost when you get i'm feeling says fire crews police officers both are military and police officers uniformed done on in plain clothes on the stall. jane usually within one minute basis hundreds does open . a lot on dylan's going to said. it was difficult to move as a pedestrian on the spot which is why i decided not to sit down and eat something now. yeah one of the aspects we heard amer was that police were telling people

possibly not to me to use their phones right up the beginning because unlike a job you might be able to where people from what you can see including yourself able to to call your loved ones to say you were ok. i mean i went out and i wasn't sure why so i just opposed to for maybe it's a question hoping it's not what it's turned out to be. so it was a running videoed won't stop my family the second please this is. just so framed yesterday and all this you go to any major european city you know on the concerns arises you know. there's a you know terrorist attack i mean these are all soft targets. it's impossible to police and simple simple you know just too old to be able to stop. such people but you know. i mean it's a touch on the say it's all i mean i arrived yesterday and went to squeakers or at

least on the ten o'clock when i woke up to go out on to the gamblers and there's just you know it's just amazing to see people it's just a tremendous city deal for full of culture music. just people watching just fantastic. i mean this is this is not the. i mean just lots of different emotions all the conk out my mind is not woman who was screaming for a children didn't just hope she phoned them and say yes it's incredibly evocative the way you describe amer just one last thing on this we're seeing we're looking at pictures while you're speaking here a lot of on balance is on the street a lot of part of medics and we don't know the figures yet all of whom have lost their lives does it look as if there were a lot of ambulances what you could see apologizing you know when i we're getting i mean i've i mean i've lost count of time and we've always been you bought some six seven times now you're on the seven hundred meters away from the scene six seven

times and the tell you i was carry things up will be sore only on two of the. two. i call the only minimum of the ambulances and then well i realise was that each time it was all awful thankfully that's no more i blister cried and then another one good go by and then another one would go by so i just thought she had given up everything by the shed the place was difficult to move as a pedestrian that was one of the reasons i'll just keep on going to sit there and. all will call you. and i just it's a shock. they're all from us on newsnight basile an assault on an awful lot just keep going on. off. all icky thinking it's so hard to believe it's a suggestion not useful people in wheelchairs will soldier and problems i mean i saw families pulling the kids up proms and running and i just keep taking i don't know how that will miss children she was screaming next to me where she was taking

leave on increase so. i mean this whole people i mean it's just keep. in mind you know the same sort of scene that you see when you're in in the london i mean it's just to see if you want to see in people from all walks of life from different nationalities and different languages differ. coaches. enjoying the day you know enjoying the day when you were not while we just lost our picture there but we still got you on the line name or were you able to walk around freely not afterwards obviously away from the scene or more than you know i mean outside of our job that are very close to you and other people this side of the side streets close shop vac. and. ramblers which is all you need to find a way back but each time i go die in some way the police officer play with guns leave us all the quite sure where these gunmen are supposed to be. where the office. is you can cross over less romulus and that's causing real difficulty if you go

from one side to the other side people gunsight streets and then every so often they're so panic american shoved back again play with guns and comic modem in a traditional guns and i suppose the difficulty for anybody who's a tourist at including myself. you don't know the streets don't know their way around so to get back to where you're supposed to be it's a great difficulty so i think because energy services are. involved with what's happened so it snows sorest and. as a second thought just no go i mean this is the real difficulty finding out which way to go or way to go just don't really know just now because i mean as you said the majesty said since we're doing a very difficult job first priority will be those who can inject money been informing the families and those who obviously. didn't enjoy the police are saying are still not to be held very quickly who absolutely we can only reiterate please

do stay safe right now we're looking at things disturbing scenes and we apologize we didn't get a warning to our viewers there before looking at that. anwar thank you very much for coming the program and sharing what you saw do stay safe there in bars. alona. ok let's just recap if you're joining us welcome to the program we have some updates on our breaking news story police say that one person has been killed thirty two more injured after a van crashed into a crowd of pedestrians in the center of barcelona the incident which is being treated as terrorists had happened in the last round less tourist area around five in the evening local time please be warned the images we're about to show and indeed we're going to be showing for the next number of hours are highly disturbing .

he will. say let's cross now authorities emily sue emily as you may have just heard their cattle on police confirming that one day thirty two injured there is a fear that that number will grow quite significantly but just bring us up to date with how this transpired in barcelona. well you know and they kept on police as you said just held a press conference and they've announced that one person has been killed and thirty two injured after a van rammed into a pedestrian crowd in central barcelona and those thirty two people injured we understand that ten are seriously injured and that is why they say the figure of people killed in this incident may go up in the near future not as expected in the

breaking story breaking news story like this there's a lot of confusion over the figure at first we thought two people have been killed and over twenty injured and some local spanish media are even citing police sources saying that as many as thirteen people killed but those are unconfirmed reports as of now in the catalan police have come on said one person killed and thirty two people injured some of the police also confirm that they are indeed treating this as a terror related incident as for the details of how it was carried out well there's been a lot of reports coming in a lot of them unconfirmed some of them even conflict completely each other but i'll tell you what we know the the driver is still at large so there is a manhunt going on so this central area we're talking about it is on lockdown and police are still looking for that driver and that driver he apparently is armed and holed up in a turkish restaurant nearby that is an income for me port as we've been seeing this in the past hour or so and we also know that there might have been a second incident with

a second van involved but that again is an unconfirmed report information is coming as we speak and i'll bring you more details as soon as we get them. thanks emily for the just confirming reiterating that police have said that one person is confirmed dead thirty two injured a lot more going to hospitals or. i wouldn't have been seeing a lot of. security in the region thanks emily yeah the incident as we have been hearing happened on the street of course you may know that you may have been there very recently you may be there it's a busy tourist area it's about a. what are y. a dime from the docks leading up to some of the most popular tourist areas churches art galleries a loft in the region people going to barcelona they're always there all times of the night locals tourists alike souvenir shops as you can see here in our pictures bars cafes it's linked to catalonia square as well very popular in the evening

there in the capital in capital according to reports the vonn turned from the square on to the pavement unplowed done the streets we're hearing out some crazy speeds up to sixty to seventy kilometers an hour and as you can imagine in the packed area that is quite incredible speeds at a local journalist we spoke to told us more about what happened believe this is eyewitness account. but we have to recall that there's the area where merely an experienced by every day it's fully back every day of the year every day those modern whether it's very very smart there's. fastened by death and they're actually local of them go there because she you many through in there yes. and then just too small for the car to there's. thousands of people in that street

. every day and millions in the whole year it's the heart of the car thing that connects the main square to the beach where i'm standing so there's thousands of people who's going there from green nationality if that doesn't exist and i think. many of you because there's people are many different times you ask me by every day in their. daily hawkins is in the studio with me we touched by upon this a little bit earlier from summer twenty six thing one of the disturbing trends that we have been seeing perhaps more used in middle east attacks are cars lorries ramming into people in the city center areas does this look to be a similar thing. well tragically the simple answer is yes you know in european capitals european cities where firearms explosives are perhaps slightly harder to

get than in the middle east for example we do see car bomb idea tax very frequently . car ramming attacks are easy to carry out and common to all sort this other developing situation around the corner which is unconfirmed of course officially as of yet but reports of a hostage situation developing in a cafe around the corner if these reports turn out to be true what we are seeing is a multi-pronged attack by these assailants similar to what we saw in the paris battle an attack last year i believe as well where the attackers targeted the theater and a football stadium at the same time with weapons and explosives but going back to the car the value of course which has been confirmed as rented we're seeing the first images come out of that already clearly a commercial a very heavy vehicle bearing in mind the geography of the location of the attack bearing in mind how busy it would have been there were understand the promenade is about one point two kilometers long running through the very center of barcelona

and as we said earlier at this time leaving at this time in the season the height of tourist season that would have been packed we understand from eyewitnesses the van traveled at very high speeds it was weaving left and right trying to hit as many people as possible as they ran away truly. images for anyone that was there and witnessed what was going on and of course from the police from the security point of view these attacks are just so difficult to to prevent because minimal preparation is required minimal equipment is required and once police are faced with such a heavy vehicle traveling at high speeds through crowds they're very limited as to their tactical options we saw a nice obviously the attack was shot dead similar cases in in london in stockholm in also of course not forgetting the middle east in egypt and jerusalem as. because we're. dead off to targeting groups of civilians in groups of soldiers fundamentally though it's really damage limitation once the attack has begun

they're very difficult to prevent once they begin and in terms of casualty figures as we've said you know the official confirmation now is one dead thirty two injured but just a few moments ago that was as many as twelve thirteen killed so really we just don't know the damage until a few hours time you know we don't we will of course get into. the ins and outs of who who carried this out in the coming hours for now we don't know much about that but we have done we sat here before you and i and we spoke about islamic propaganda saying islamic state trying to get people who are affiliated not necessarily. members of the groups to carry out attacks around the world and we see it particularly when they're getting squeezed in iraq and in syria and this we see a live shot but we'll talk about more of that in the coming hours of course but for now don thank you very much. you know we've been getting a lot of witness testimony.