A tractor trailer barreled into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night, killing 12 people and injuring 45 others. Witnesses said shoppers screamed and dropped packages and glasses of mulled wine as the truck plowed into the market.

Officials are investigating the crash as an act of terrorism, according to a German intelligence official familiar with the matter. Authorities have apprehended the suspected driver, according to a police spokesman.

Some of the 48 people in the hospital have serious injuries, Berlin police tweeted.
The truck that was involved in the crash at Breitscheidplatz, in the western part of central Berlin, had Polish license plates, police spokeswoman Kerstin Ziesmer said. Police tweeted that a Polish citizen was found dead in the truck.

Ariel Zurawski, owner of the truck company, told TVN 24, a private Polish television news network and CNN affiliate, the truck, carrying a steel shipment, may have been hijacked.
Zurawski said his cousin -- the truck`s regular driver -- couldn`t have been behind the wheel and wasn`t the man who ran from the scene.
"My scenario is that they did something to him and hijacked this truck," he said.
Witness Emma Rushton told CNN that the truck didn`t slow down. She said the truck was traveling about 40 mph through the crowded pedestrian area.
"There`s no way it was an accident," Rushton said. "We saw at least 10 people" injured and lying on the ground.

Another witness, Shandana Durrani, was 20 feet away from the truck when it rammed several market stalls
"I think everybody thought there was a terrorist attack happening," she said. "People dropped what they were carrying and ran for cover. ... It seemed like the truck just jumped the curb and took a wrong turn and barreled through the crowd."
Durrani, an American who moved to Berlin a few months ago, said slowing to respond to a text message "saved me from being hit."

(Published 2016/12/20 at 2:55 pm)