Melbourne crash: Arrests after car hits pedestrians in 'deliberate act'

Nineteen people have been injured, some seriously, after a car ploughed into pedestrians outside a major train station in Australia, in what police said was a "deliberate act".

Two arrests have been made after the incident outside Flinders Street station in Melbourne, which occurred at around 5pm local time on Thursday evening.

Police said one of the men arrested - the driver - was a 32-year-old Australian of Afghan descent with a history of drug use and mental health problems, and there is no evidence to suggest a link with terrorism at this stage.

He was arrested by an off-duty officer, who fought and restrained the suspect after he resisted arrest.

A second man, aged 24, who was arrested in close proximity to the scene was discovered to have a bag containing knives after he was seen filming the incident, police said.

Witnesses described "people flying everywhere" as a white car ran a red light, and sped at crowds of people.

Images from the scene showed a number of people receiving medical attention, while a white Suzuki SUV appeared to have collided with a phone box.

Police said the driver was known to state police on "historical assault matters".

Lachlan Read told the Herald Sun the whole incident lasted about 15 seconds.

"It was bang, bang, bang. It was just one after the other.

"The last bang the car stopped," the 20-year-old said.

"There were bodies on the ground and people running up to them - it was mayhem.

"It is definitely something you don't expect to see on Flinders Street."

It was the first week of school summer holidays in Victoria, and the area was busy with Christmas shoppers.

Ambulance Victoria tweeted: "Paramedics have now transported 13 people to city hospitals. Two more people are being assessed by paramedics at the scene."

Police later said a second man had been arrested.

It is thought 19 people have been injured in total, a number of those critically.

The force said: "Police have saturated the CBD (central business district) area following an incident where a car has collided with a number of pedestrians on Flinders Street.

"The incident occurred when the vehicle struck a number of pedestrians in front of Flinders Street Station just after 4.30pm.

"The driver of the vehicle and a second man have been arrested and are in police custody.

"A number of people were treated at the scene for a range of injuries and have been transported to hospital."