One person has been arrested at the scene of the incident.
Highlights
- Several injured after car ploughs into pedestrians, says London Police
- A video from the site shows police pinning down a man to the ground
- Nearby museums evacuated, roads around the area closed: Reports
A car ploughed into pedestrians outside London's Natural History Museum today, injuring many. One person has been arrested at the scene of the incident, a press release by the London Police said without elaborating on further details.
A spokesman for the museum said there had been a vehicle collision with pedestrians outside its entrance on Exhibition Road. British media reported a car had mounted the pavement outside the tourist attraction.
A video from the incident site showed police officers pinning down a man to the ground.
Police described the incident in the South Kensington area of west London as a collision and said the motive for the incident was under investigation. "Inquiries to establish the circumstances and motive are under way," police said.
The press release of the police also said that the London Ambulance Service has been called.
The museum said on Twitter it was working with police after "a serious incident" outside and would provide more information later.
Nearby museums have been evacuated and the roads around the area have been closed, according to reports.
Crowds in the busy tourist spot in South Kensington, which is also home to the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Science Museum, fled screaming in panic, an AFP reporter said.
"Suddenly a police woman officer shouted at the crowd to run, and everybody flew in panic, many people screaming," a witness told news agency AFP.
The UK is on its second highest security alert level. There have been five attacks this year, of which three involve vehicles.
In March, a man drove a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge killing four before stabbing a police officer to death in the grounds of parliament.
Three terrorists drove into people on London Bridge in June before stabbing people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight and the same month a van was driven into worshippers near a mosque in north London which left one man dead.
With inputs from Reuters and AFP