A suspected human-trafficker injured six pedestrians, four of them seriously, as he fled a police vehicle check near Germany’s border with Austria.
The injured pedestrians were visiting the Danube in Flames fair near the town of Vilshofen around 20 kilometres from the border on Saturday evening, according to a police spokesman.
The 24-year-old driver, a Georgian national, ploughed into the pedestrians as his vehicle drifted to the right while taking a left-hand turn at high speed on the road between the border town of Passau and Vilshofen.
He continued to flee in the direction of Vilshofen, abandoning his vehicle in a dead-end road and continuing on foot until being apprehended by police officers. Two officers were slightly injured in the chase.
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Police found eight people, including five children aged between three and 14, in the vehicle, all of them foreign nationals without proper documentation.
The six injured fairgoers, three women and a man aged between 18 and 21, a 15-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, were taken to hospital.
The suspect faces charges of causing injury, traffic violations and transporting passengers under dangerous conditions.
According to police, several thousand people were attending the Danube in Flames fair, which included a fireworks display, on the banks of the river.
dpa