At least 10 people are injured, including several children, after a car crashed into a crowd in Sydney, Australia.

Rugby fans gathered to support the Newcastle Knights NRL team while they trained in New South Wales for their final against the Sydney Roosters tomorrow.

New South Wales Police have confirmed that a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man are in critical condition at John Hunter Hospital.

The girl suffered a cardiac arrest and is in an induced coma after sustaining head injuries and broken bones. Her mother also broke her leg.

The other eight wounded are stable, which includes two girls aged two and five.

An 18-year-old male who was driving the vehicle was arrested and later identified as Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe.

Documents obtained by ABC confirm he has been charged with three instances of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, three instances of negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, and three instances of causing bodily harm by misconduct.

Following the incident, which occurred at 9.30am, Newcastle Knights CEO Peter Parr shared his concern, writing on the team’s website: ‘Our thoughts and prayers are first and foremost with everyone who has been injured, their families and loved ones, and everyone who witnessed what occurred this morning.

‘What was meant to be a special morning for our community, thousands of Novocastrians coming together to farewell our team and show their support ahead of the Grand Final, has understandably turned into a distressing morning.

‘We want to thank our incredible fans for the passion and support they showed our team this morning. The scenes across Newcastle demonstrated once again what this football club means to our community.’

Parr went on to praise the ‘extraordinary’ actions of first responders, hailing the ‘speed and professionalism of NSW Police, NSW Ambulance and all emergency services at the scene’.

‘We also extend our deepest thanks to the doctors, nurses and entire team at John Hunter Hospital who are caring for those injured.

‘I would also like to personally acknowledge NSW Police Commissioner Malcolm Lanyon for his leadership and support.’

He called Newcastle a ‘strong community’, encouraging people to draw on their ‘strength’ and ‘compassion’ to support ‘those who need it most’.

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner David Waddell of New South Wales Police informed reporters that, as well as the arrested man, there were two other passengers in the car.

He said officers ‘had to get the three of them out of there because the crowd did turn on them’.

Waddell explained that the driver was taken for ‘mandatory drug and alcohol testing’ ahead of being charged.

He said the crash is not believed to be terrorism-related, and there are ‘no concerns other than this being a tragic incident where a young person has done the wrong thing and driven irresponsibly, driven erratically, and obviously lost control of the vehicle into the crowd’.

‘But there’s no, no suggestion at all that it’s targeted or any ill motive.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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