SIX GERMANS WERE killed and 11 others were injured when a speeding car crashed into them in northern Italy on Sunday.

Italian media reported that the accident happened at around 1:15 am local time (00:15 GMT) in the South Tyrol region bordering Austria.

The group of German tourists had left their bus after spending the evening at a nightclub when the car crashed into them at high-speed.

Two people, who were in a very serious condition, were flown by helicopter to a hospital in Innsbruck in Austria. Nine others were taken to regional hospitals.

According to Rainews24, the driver was a 28-year-old man who lived locally and who “may have had a high level of alcohol in his blood”.

He was arrested and put in hospital under police guard.

Some 160 emergency workers were at the scene, and a field hospital was set up by the roadside to provide first aid.

“A terrible scene, people on the ground, cries and pain, a tragedy – we don’t have the words,” a hotel receptionist told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

“We have asked several times for a radar on this road as drivers speed up as soon as they leave Lutago, and here, one kilometre from the centre, they go at 100 kilometres an hour.”

“The New Year has begun with a tragedy,” South Tyrol governor Arno Kompatscher told reporters.

The German foreign ministry in Berlin said its consulate in Milan was “in close touch with the Italian authorities who are proceeding with the identification of the victims, assisting those who have been affected”. 

- © AFP 2019