Girl dies and eight injured after car crashes into school on last day of term
It has been confirmed that a girl has tragically died after a Land Rover crashed into a girls' prep school building in London.
Police were called to the scene before 10:00am today (6 July) with reports of the vehicle having 'collided with a building' at the primary school located on Camp Road, Wimbledon.
The Metropolitan Police have since confirmed that a middle-aged woman has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
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In their initial statement, the Met confirmed: "Officers are responding to an incident at a primary school in Camp Road, Wimbledon.
"We were called at 09:54hrs to reports that a car collided with a building at the school.
"Several people are being treated at the scene. We will share further updates when we can."
Since then, a subsequent statement has been released by Merton Police on Twitter and sadly confirmed a fatality following the incident at The Study Prep.
It stated: "We can now confirm that sadly a child has died following an incident where a car collided with a building at a school in Wimbledon.
"We can also confirm that the driver of the vehicle, a woman aged in her 40s, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving."
The statement continued: "Officers attended, along with paramedics from the London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance.
"There have been further injuries and we await an update from the London Ambulance Service."
Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland, local police commander for south-west London, said: "This is tragic news and our thoughts are with the girl’s family and friends, and everyone affected today.
"We remain at the scene and are continuing our investigation into the full circumstances of the incident."
In a press conference at the scene, Kelland also announced that the girl who died was eight-years-old.
Emergency services are treating the crash as a 'very serious incident', with a previous statement from Scotland Yard initially saying that they knew of nine people, seven children and two adults, who had been injured in the horrific collision.
Chief paramedic, John Martin, from the London Ambulance Service said has since confirmed that a total of 16 patients were treated at the scene and 10 were taken to hospital after the incident.
Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond, whose daughter had previously attended the school, told PA that several of those hurt were 'critically injured'.
He said: "There are a number of people who are critically injured as I understand it and given the scale of the response from emergency services… this is a very serious incident."
One member of the public who arrived on the scene shortly after the incident said they 'saw a lot of distraught parents rushing from the scene on my arrival'.
The witness also added that they saw ' quite a lot of damage' when they arrived and that police were quickly on the scene to respond.
Authorities also confirmed that the driver of the vehicle 'stopped at the scene' and they are 'not treating this incident as terror related'.
Rhiannon Ingle