'I was skateboarding alongside van in Barcelona terror attack'

A British man has told how he was skateboarding alongside the terrorist van before it swerved into crowds on Las Ramblas.

Liam Searle was feet away from the white Fiat when it crashed into pedestrians along the historic promenade around 5pm on Thursday.

:: LIVE: Latest updates on Spanish terror
:: Spain terror attacks: What we know so far

The 22-year-old, who now lives in Barcelona, told Sky News: "I was skating down the street with my headphones in - I was not really aware of what was going on.

"It was not until the van (...) was striking people and hit the kiosk that I then heard it, because it was right next to me.

"At this point I saw everyone from the bars up ahead of me start running and just looked terrified.

"So I jumped off my skateboard and a bunch of us ran into the theatre and stayed in there until we were escorted safely away."

Another British tourist Keith Welling said he arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday with his wife and nine-year-old daughter.

The family saw the van drive past them down the avenue and took refuge in a restaurant when panic broke out.

"People were shouting and we heard a bang and someone cried that it was a gunshot ... Me and my family ran into the restaurant along with around 40 other people.

"At first, people were going crazy in there, lots of people crying, including a little girl around three years old."

:: Barcelona attack van driver on the run
:: Who has been arrested so far?

Meanwhile, Ken Morris and his wife Karen, told how they hid in the cellar of a souvenir shop for six hours, before they were escorted to safety.

Mr Morris, from Liverpool, said the couple had just returned from the beach when they saw the van weaving from one side of the promenade to the other.

"He was deliberately trying to hit every stall as that was where all the people were," Mr Morris said.

Susana Elvira Carolina, 33, who works at a shop on Las Ramblas, had just entered her building when the van struck.

"We had a window and you could see the bodies lying from there, you could see how people were run over ... We were shutting down the blinds but people kept coming in and we had to keep it open so they could enter the shop."

At the second attack in Cambrils, witnesses told of seeing bodies on the ground, one with a bullet wound to his head.

:: Catalonia's interior ministry has provided a number for anyone worried about relatives, advising people to call +34 900400012.