A BUS RACED out of control down a set of steps and into a busy square during the Stockholm Marathon earlier today, injuring six people and causing a panic among spectators.

The Södermalmstorg square was particularly crowded at the time, as thousands of city residents headed to watch the race. The square also houses a metro station.

“I heard two bangs and first I thought it was a fight, but then I see a bus racing down the stairs step by step,” witness Charlotta Asell told The Associated Press.

Asell, 30, said people screamed and she ran toward a police car parked nearby to get help.

“I put my hands over my eyes,” she said. “I saw it was bad and that people were seriously hurt, but I didn’t want to see it.”

Asell said a stroller lay crushed on the ground, but that the child had escaped without any serious injuries.

Karolinska Hospital said it had received a seriously injured man, two women with lighter injuries and a 1-year-old child with light injuries. Two people with shoulder injuries were also taken to Stockholm South General Hospital, that hospital said.

The victims were all pedestrians and no one on the bus was hurt.

Stockholm Public Transport spokeswoman Gunilla Glans said it is unclear what caused the crash and that the bus operator Keolis has started an investigation. She said the busdriver was also taken to hospital, but had not been injured.

The race continued as planned, with the men’s race won by Ethiopia’s Shumi Gerbaba and the women’s race by local favourite Isabellah Andersson.

AP