British dad tells of how his family escaped lorry ‘hurtling towards them’ in Berlin Christmas market attack
John Thompson was eating at the market with wife Nicole and daughter Annabelle when the lorry plunged into the Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring 48
A BRITISH dad revealed he and his family were forced to run for their lives to avoid the lorry that ploughed into a central Berlin Christmas market.
John Thompson, 59, was at a barbecue stall with wife Nicola, 48, and daughter Annabelle, 11, as the truck hit the crowds.
The businessman, from Lepton, West Yorks, who was on a three-day trip, said: “We were very, very close. If we hadn’t stopped for something to eat we’d have been 30 yards up at this market that was hit.
“All of a sudden there was this almighty commotion and this truck was hurtling towards us. I saw the front end of it. We didn’t hang around it and just ran for our lives.
“My daughter thought it was fireworks but everyone else was running away from the scene and we just followed them to the church steps at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
“You think these kind of things will never happen to you but it very nearly did.”
12 people died and 48 were injured after a lorry drove into the market. 14 people are in a serious condition in hospital and may not recover.
The lorry ploughed into the busy Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz, in the centre of West Berlin. The square is in the middle of some of Berlin's busiest shopping streets, and next to the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, a popular tourist site.
ISIS have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck visited the scene of the horrific attack today, attending a memorial church service and stopping to place flowers in the square. Members of the public lit candles and left tributes at a huge shrine in Breitscheidplatz to mourn the dead and injured.
Tourists Barry and Lynn Butler, of Tenterden, Kent, also just missed being hit after stopping to look at decorations.
Lynn said: “We are very lucky and could have been in the centre of it. The stallholders were in floods of tears.”
Briton Emma Rushton told Sky News: “We heard a massive bang. About eight to 10 feet in front of us was where the lorry ploughed through. It ploughed through the stall where we bought our mulled wine.
“It ploughed through people and the wooden huts, it tore the lights down. Everything went dark, it was black and there was screaming. It was awful.
“People were tearing off wooden panels to get out.”
She added: “It was not an accident. It was going 40mph, it was in the middle of the market.
“There was no way that it could have come off the road and it showed no signs of slowing down.”
German authorities thought they had arrested the driver of the lorry, which was hijacked before being deliberately driven through the crowds, shortly after the attack.
However, they were yesterday forced to admit to having arrested the wrong man, warning that the actual attacker was still at large, and could be armed.
A huge manhunt for the attacker continues.