Eleven people hurt after car crash near London museum

The incident is a "road traffic collision" and is "not being treated as terror-related", police said

Police officers stand in the road near the Natural History Museum, after a car mounted the pavement injuring a number of pedestrians, police said, in London, Britain October 7, 2017. REUTERS/Peter NicShow more

London's ambulance service said they had treated 11 people, mostly for head and leg injuries, with nine taken to hospital after a car collided with pedestrians near the city's Natural History Museum on Saturday.

Police said one person has been detained at the scene, after the car mounted the pavement.

They added that the incident is not being treated as a terror attack, but rather as a road traffic accident.

The crash happened at 2:20 p.m. on a day when the central London museum is usually teeming with pedestrians including international tourists. Photographs showed a dented silver car and a man being pinned to the ground outside the museum.

Emergency services arrived swiftly at the scene outside the Natural History Museum in London.

"We sent multiple resources to the scene, including our hazardous area response team, ambulance crews, paramedics in fast response cars and incident response officers," Peter McKenna, deputy director of operations at London's ambulance service, said in a statement.

"We have worked closely with other members of the emergency services at the scene, with our priority being to get people to safety and ensure they received the medical help they needed as quickly as possible."

The museum said on Twitter it was working with police after "a serious incident" outside and would provide more information later.

London's official terrorist threat level has been set at "severe", indicating an attack is highly likely.