Global Courant
Flowers and tributes were placed outside the school this morning – George Cracknell Wright
When teachers at The Study Preparatory School trestle tables with soft drinks and pastries placed in the sun on Thursday mornings, their only concern was to reward the third grade students with a fun and appropriate conclusion to their studies.
Many parents had chosen to attend the event at the exclusive school near Wimbledon Common, southwest London.
The narrow road outside the independent prep school was lined with parked cars, including Porsches, Range Rovers and Maseratis.
No doubt the children, between the ages of seven and eight, would have been very excited about the day their long summer vacation started.
But shortly before 10 a.m., a tragedy as unfathomable as it was violent shattered the peace of that prep school celebration.
A black and gold Land Rover veered off the road, crashed through a fence and crashed into children and parents before crashing to a stop against the red brick wall, flying shards of glass.
A man is said to have run out of the building to declare a child dead before begging to clear the way for ambulances.
Initially, there were fears that the incident could be a terrorist attack.
As 999 calls relayed the severity of the accident to emergency services, dozens of police, ambulance and fire vehicles raced to the crime scene in the suburb where the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
Exactly what happened leading up to the catastrophic collision remains unknown.
Initial reports suggested the driver, a woman in her 40s who may have been returning from the nearby Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, had suffered a “seizure” or perhaps a “heart attack”.
However, police later said the woman was taken into custody and questioned on suspicion of death by dangerous driving.
Dozens of paramedics arrived to treat 16 patients at the scene – Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph
Emergency response to the crash was prompt; dozens of paramedics arrived to treat 16 patients at the scene. It soon turned out that an eight-year-old student was among the dead.
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A total of 10 other patients, it is not known how many were children or adults, were taken to hospital. Some suffered injuries so severe that only an air ambulance could take them there.
The condition of some of the injured is said to be critical.
In the chaos that followed the incident, parents rushed to the Camp Road school in a desperate attempt to check that their children were not among the injured.
As a police cordon was set up, parents were seen hugging their children as they ushered them through the streets under the blue and white ribbon by cars in support of the golf club and the Common.
Some children were treated for cuts and bruises in the dozens of ambulances parked around Wimbledon Common.
John Tucker, the chairman of the governors, Helen Lowe, the director, and Sharon Maher, acting director, comforted each other after the incident – Julian Simmonds for The Telegraph
But a hint of the horror those police, paramedics and firefighters saw when they first arrived at the school was summed up when Detective Superintendent Clair Kelland told a press conference at the scene that a child was among the dead.
Despite being an experienced senior police officer, even she lost her cool.
For a moment the police chief for South West London, who is a mother herself, struggled with the word ‘eight years old’.
“Unfortunately, one of the children, an eight-year-old girl, died on the spot,” she said, clearly considering the magnitude of the loss of that child’s parents.
“Our thoughts are with her family at this incredibly difficult time.”
A few feet away, the chairman of the board, John Tucker, said the local community was “deeply affected” by the “tragedy”.
He declined to comment further as he stood next to Headteacher Helen Lowe, who held the hand of Head-Elect Sharon Maher.
While the number of injured was read out by the paramedics, they gripped each other more and more tightly.
A television helicopter was filmed above during the press conference. The aerial photos captured the aftermath of the crash.
A large mat was spread out on the floor where the tea party would have been held.
Nearby was a table with a white cloth on it with drinks. A fire extinguisher lay next to the 4×4, its hood crumpled against the wall of the school.
Inside the Study Prep school
Much of the confusion for parents was how a Land Rover could have driven into the school when the speed limit was only 20 mph.
Some local residents, who declined to be named, said it was normal for some parents of preschool children to attend the end-of-school tea party, raising the prospect that they had brought younger children who had not yet entered school. were of school age. to the event.
The car is removed by the police – JULIAN SIMMONDS
It was feared that some of the injured could be even younger than those in Year 3.
Although police urged people not to speculate on what really happened, the tragedy in Wimbledon Village, where shops were decorated with fluorescent green tennis balls to mark the grass tennis tournament, was very close to their hearts.
Even the organizers of the tournament issued a statement on Twitter:
Stephen Hammond, the MP for Wimbledon whose daughter previously attended the school, said he understood several of those injured were “seriously injured”.
He said: “Given the magnitude of the emergency response… this is a very serious incident.”
A statement on the preparatory school’s website said: “We are deeply shocked by the tragic accident this morning at Wilberforce House and devastated that it claimed the life of one of our young pupils and injured several others.
“Our thoughts are with the bereaved and with the families of those injured at this terrible time.
“It is far too early to fully understand what has happened, but we are well aware of the profound impact this terrible event will have on our students and their families.
“Their well-being remains our top priority and we will do everything we can to support them, especially those who have been injured.
“With a police investigation underway, we will not be making any further public statements for the time being and ask that the privacy of our school community be respected at this deeply troubling time.”
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