30 injured as car drives into carnival crowd in Germany

A car crashed into a carnival crowd in the western German town of Volkmarsen on Monday afternoon, leaving around 30 people injured, including children, local authorities said.

The driver, a 29-year-old German citizen from Volkmarsen, was arrested on site, and is being treated in hospital for injuries associated with the crash, according to a joint statement by the police of the state of Hesse and the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt.

The investigation is underway and there is no information yet on the motive of the suspect, which could be determined "in all directions", authorities said in the statement.

Around 30 people, including children, were injured as a result of the incident, which happened at 2:45 p.m. local time during a carnival parade. Several were injured seriously, authorities said.

The incident happened amid Rose Monday celebrations, when many cities and towns in west Germany stage carnival parades to mark the peak of Germany's carnival season. The police of Hesse announced on Twitter shortly after the crash that all parades in the state were called off as a precautionary measure.

Volkmarsen is a small town with a population of about 6,800.