Video shows tourist plowing SUV into cafe in Canary Islands
Horrifying video captured the moment a tourist drove an SUV into a cafe in the Canary Islands, injuring eight people, including a five-year-old girl and a baby in a stroller.
Footage shows a white Dacia Duster hurtling off the road into a crowded cafe in a tourist hotspot in Fuerteventura around 11:27am Thursday, knocking over tables and throwing victims through the air before crashing into a shop front.
A man in a red t-shirt and blue jeans is seen trying to rescue the toddler in his stroller – before the car crashes right into him, throwing him onto the hood.
A woman in a pink dress is also seen from the impact, slamming her feet first into a neighboring building and hitting her head on the ground while being surrounded by debris.
Other victims – including a 49-year-old woman and four men in their 40s and 50s – appear completely unaware of the danger before the car hits them.
Five of the victims were seriously injured local officials told the Canary News, with the 4-month-old baby being flown to a hospital on the neighboring island of Gran Canaria. All were still alive as of Friday morning.
The 55-year-old driver, a British tourist, was also taken to a local hospital, the outlet said, without identifying him or detailing his condition.
“He was not arrested,” a local police chief said said the Daily Mail.
The driver tested negative for alcohol and drugs, police said – who are considering the possibility he may have suffered a heart attack or passed out at the wheel.
“The investigation into the incident is ongoing, but at this time there is no evidence of the driver’s intent to harm anyone and therefore there is no evidence at this time of any criminal responsibility on his part for what happened,” he said the local police chief.
Sources told local media that the vehicle was traveling at around 50 to 60 miles per hour before crashing into the cafe.
Pictures from the scene of the accident show the white SUV badly damaged by the impact with a smashed windshield and dented bonnet.
Immediately after the accident, passers-by could also be seen tending to the injured at the side of the road before first responders arrived.
