Bellingham crash: Witnesses describe 'carnage' as Mercedes ploughs into five people

Witnesses have described scenes of “carnage” after a Mercedes ploughed into a group of people, leaving four injured in hospital and another fighting for life.

The car crashed into a wall and hit a number of pedestrians outside a car wash on Bromley Road in Bellingham, just before 8.20am.

Pictures showed the smashed-up car embedded in a bush beside Catford bus garage as emergency services descended on the scene.

A 25-year-old man is fighting for life in hospital while a woman, 35, and another man, 25, are in a serious condition following the crash. Two other people sustained minor injuries, police said.

Minasu Towolawi was on her way to church with her family when she heard screaming coming from near the car wash.

She told the Standard: “I went up there and I just saw carnage. There were two men lying flat on their backs there.

“There was another lady was being sat upright and people were trying to get her awake. She looked gone to me.

“They were all just wailing and crying.”

She said: "There was a lot of blood as well.

"I didn't notice the car until I came back afterwards. I just thought they'd been stabbed or shot."

Ms Towolawi said she believed those who were injured work and live at the car wash, and that they had been waiting outside for customers when they were hit.

She and her brother went to see if they could help, but could not understand the group as they spoke little English.

"They just kept saying something bad had happened and were slapping themselves and pulling their hair out. They just didn't know what to do and were screaming and crying," she said.

The 26-year-old said: “When I saw the victims they were in front of the car wash.

“People were around them saying things in a language I didn’t understand.”

She claimed several of the men started running after the driver, a “well-dressed black guy”, yelling: “F*** you. Why have you done this?”

“One of them was injured and bleeding from the forehead and was chasing the guy,” she said.

“I was so shocked,” she said. “I thought they were dead.

“It was horrific. I was really moved because everyone there was so upset. They were slapping themselves and were distraught.”

Photos from the scene appeared to show the Mercedes had come off the road and ploughed through a row of bollards before hitting a low wall at the end of a hedge.

The car's bonnet and boot were popped open by the impact, and its airbags all deployed. Debris was left strewn across the pavement.

A neighbour told the Standard: “It seems like the car's ploughed into two bollards and ended up in the hedges by the bus garage. I hope everyone's ok.

"It's so sad, this always happens on this strip of road. There's always some accident or the other."

"It's really heartbreaking because we live here and I'm always seeing these accidents.”

Police said the driver of the car was detained at the scene by an off-duty police officer before being arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He was also arrested on suspicion of drink drive before being taken to hospital with a head injury.

The road was closed off for the whole morning while police investigated the incident.

Photos showed the smashed-up car being towed away once the crash site was cleared.

Detectives from the Met's Roads and Transport Policing Command are investigating.

Anyone with information should call the Serious Collision Investigation Unit's witness appeal line on 020 8285 1574 or via 101.