Horrific sight of mangled pram in road after Melbourne horror

A BABY thrown from a pram when a car ran down pedestrians in Melbourne is critically injured and another child is dead, police say.

A BABY thrown from a pram when a car ploughed through pedestrians in Melbourne’s CBD is critically injured and a 10-year-old child died at the scene.

A man and woman in their 30s also died and 15 were injured when the rampaging vehicle deliberately rammed into adults and children, with five people still in a critical condition.

Witnesses said the child in the pram was thrown into the air and lay motionless on the street until an emergency responder removed them. The mother begged, “Where is my baby?” after the pram was dragged under a vehicle and left mangled in the road.

A three- or four-year-old toddler was dragged up to 100 metres down the street, Sky News reported.

One child was so badly injured that “police ended up taking that child to hospital ... because we couldn’t wait for the ambulance to arrive, such was the condition of the child”, said Victoria Police’s Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton.

The Royal Children’s Hospital confirmed it was treating four children after the deadly incident in the city centre.

A baby thrown from a pram died at the scene, according to a Sky News reporter. Picture: David Geraghty, The Australian

A child was reportedly thrown out of the pram and lay motionless on the ground. Picture: Alex Coppel

Passers-by help an injured woman at the scene of the horrific attack. Picture: Tony Gough

A spokesman for the hospital said the five patients were “a three-month-old who is currently in the operating theatre, a two-year-old who has been transferred to the intensive care unit, a nine-year-old with limb injuries who has been transferred to the ward and a 12-year-old who is currently undergoing assessments.” A 23-year-old was also treated at the hospital for a limb injury.

He said all the children at the hospital were in a critical condition “but none are deceased yet.”

The Alfred Hospital is treating five patients injured in the incident. Three are critical but stable, two are seriously injured, the hospital tweeted.

Christine Nixon, former police commissioner of Victoria Police, was on the scene a minute after the incident just before 1.40pm. She said a mother repeatedly begged her, “Where is my baby?” She responded, “I don’t know.”

Ms Nixon also helped direct traffic afterwards.

Sky News aerial shot appears to show pram on top of the bonnet of the crumpled car from #bourkestreet chaos. #Melbourne pic.twitter.com/JKgW1tInjV

— 🅱RENDAN ©ASEY (@BrendoCasey) January 20, 2017

Melbourne’s busy city centre is in lockdown. The driver, who was arrested dressed only in red underpants, reportedly mounted the footpath before mowing down pedestrians as shots were fired, following a stabbing incident in Windsor earlier.

The driver, who is known to police for domestic violence related issues, tore through Flinders Street Station and Bourke Street Mall.

The wreckage of the pram at Bourke Street Mall after the car ploughed through pedestrians in Melbourne’s city centre. Picture: Julian Smith/AAP

At least 20 were injured and four dead. Picture: Tony Gough

Bystanders comfort each other after pedestrians were mowed down. Picture: Tony Gough

People pitch in to help the injured. Picture: Tony Gough

Witness Sian Bayliss told ABC News: “One of the first people I rushed over to was a family with two young children who were probably about seven and nine and the little boy had a fairly bad abrasion on his forehead but he wasn’t seriously injured, just a lot of blood, but because they had obviously just leapt out of the way or been very close, both children were screaming.

“There was just constant, high-pitched, panicked screaming, the terror in his eyes ... he just looked straight at me while I was talking to his father and just ... screaming. Out of control.

He was looking at me.”

She said people were “flying like skittles” as the man “drove right through them” in a “determined fashion.”

Police fire shots and seize driver in Bourke St, Melbourne #news #melbourne pic.twitter.com/47RiyJvW0Q

— bwadamson (@BWAdamson) January 20, 2017

An employee of a health food store just off Bourke street said the scene was “just crazy”.

“You could hear the car hitting stuff and people were just screaming,” the witness told news.com.au.

“People were running everywhere. It was just crazy.”

He said he saw two bodies covered up lying near emergency personnel while others were frantically seeking treatment.

“I can’t believe it. There was one guy who was just screaming near them (the bodies). He looked real bad. I think he just lost his mate.”

“They were just over there, but there were people injured all up the street.”

Four people are dead and at least 20 injured after the driver, pictured in red underpants as he is arrested, mounted a footpath at speed and hit bystanders in Melbourne’s CBD. Picture: AAP

A mother begged an ex-police officer: ‘Where’s my baby?’ Picture: Twitter

The driver was arrested at the Elizabeth Street end of the mall after he was dragged from the crashed car by heavily armed police and handcuffed. He had earlier been seen “screaming out the window” and doing burnouts near Flinders Street station.

In extraordinary scenes, people ran for their lives as the car sped towards them. Ambulance and hospital staff were called back into work as the city went on “code red” on Friday afternoon, with residents warned not to approach the CBD.

A Twitter user shared unverified CCTV footage from inside a store of pedestrians fleeing as a car runs them down:

Car rams into pedestrians in #Melbourne #cbd pic.twitter.com/wc5Q1lT1NK

— Solf (@sunprawn) January 20, 2017

“There was a car that just sped along the footpath and hit people,” a witness told police at the scene.

A Victoria Police spokesman warned people to avoid Melbourne’s city centre and said this was not a counter-terrorism operation.

“Emergency services are assisting multiple patients but at least one person has been confirmed deceased,” the police statement said.

“Pedestrian access has been closed on Bourke Street between William and Swanston streets.”

Rishi Hathiramani, a CBD shopkeeper, “There’s someone on the middle of the ground and there’s blood all over the street.

“I’ve seen accidents but never this bad. It’s pretty brutal.”

A number of CBD businesses are in lockdown, while others have been evacuated. “A heap of people ran into my store, it was horrible. Half of my staff are in tears,” said a Strandbags manager.

Do you know more? Email [e-mail] and contact Crimestoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000..

— With wires