One dead after car crashes through shopping centre and lands on kiosk

One person died and two were injured when a car fell from the seventh floor of a busy shopping centre.

Miraflores shopping centre, in Guatemala City, was heaving on Sunday as customers milled beneath a Christmas tree clad in baubles and lights.

Then a car crashed through a concrete wall of its upper storey car park, falling several floors onto a kiosk on the first floor plaza.

Kiosk worker Oliver André de Paz died after he was trapped beneath the car and rubble.

Staff and shoppers could be seen rushing to try and lift the car from where it had landed near the base of an escalator.

Joel Abelino Pereira Cruz, who captured footage of the car, said: ‘I was shopping with my family, and we were passing by just when the accident happened. The car literally fell 10 meters from where I was.’

Others stood around on balconies, some exchanging hugs, as they watched the aftermath of the tragedy.

The driver, a 22-year-old man who survived the fall, has since been arrested.

He was initially taken to hospital in stable condition.

The car smashed through this concrete wall in the shopping centre car park (Picture: Jam Press)

A woman was also injured in the crash. She was seen being carried away from the scene as she broke down in tears.

She is understood to have lower body injuries.

Speaking to the Prensa Libre newspaper, a shopping centre spokesperson said: ‘We express our solidarity with Oliver and his family in these difficult times they are experiencing.

‘For the Miraflores shopping center, the safety of our guests is a priority at all times and we are still trying to clarify what happened, given that it is a fortuitous event outside our already established protocols.’

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