Loose horses gallop across London, causing injury and damage: NPR

Five military horses – including one apparently covered in blood – escaped in central London on Wednesday morning, galloping through rush hour crowds, crashing into vehicles and injuring several people before being recaptured.

“A number of military workhorses broke loose during a routine exercise this morning,” a Department of Defense spokesperson told NPR. “All horses have now been collected and returned to camp.”

According to the ministry, six soldiers and seven horses from the Household Cavalry – more specifically the Life Guards, the oldest regiment in the British army – were conducting a “prolonged horse exercise” around London, known as Watering. Order.

About a mile and a half into their journey, as they passed a construction site in the Belgravia area, the sound of concrete hitting the ground “scared the horses”.

Five of the horses fled, knocking down four soldiers. Three soldiers were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the horses continued to run.

“We are aware of a number of horses currently on the loose in central London and are working with colleagues, including the Army, to locate them,” Westminster Police wrote on X (formerly Twitter) shortly afterwards 9 a.m. local time.

For about two hours, the horses carved a destructive path for about 6 miles from the town.

Passers-by and British media flooded social media with images of two saddled horses – one black and one white, with bright red liquid covering their chests and legs – racing down the busy city streets.

Reports and photos have emerged showing horses crashing into vehicles, panicking commuters and throwing at least one person into the street.

A taxi driver named Sean told BBC Radio London that he saw a parked Mercedes “with the side smashed and covered in blood”. Big Bus Tours said a horse hit one of its parked double-decker buses. No one was injured, but photos show a huge crack in the bus’s front window.

Eyewitness Bashir Aden said The telegraph he saw a soldier fall to the ground, “screaming in pain,” after one of the horses hit a car.

“Horses use this road every day, but today the horse seemed stressed or panicked,” he added. “I saw the horse run away after hitting a bus. People were screaming and running everywhere.”

A spokesperson for the London Ambulance Service confirmed to NPR that four people were injured in three separate incidents and all were taken to hospital for treatment.

The first, at 8:25 a.m. local time, involved a person being “thrown from a horse” on Buckingham Palace Road. Two minutes later, responders were alerted to a “horse incident on Belgrave Square” involving two victims. And they received a third call at 8.35am about another incident with a horse, this time at the junction of Chancery Lane and Fleet Street, more than 2 miles east of Belgrave Square.

London Fire Brigade said in a statement that their crews helped respond after a person fell from a horse in Belgrave Square. They also responded to the scene of two collisions, “including one near Victoria Station where a horse was involved in a collision with a taxi”.

Shortly before 10am local time, City of London Police tweeted that officers detained two horses on the motorway near Limehouse – which is in the East End of London, around 10km from the Buckingham Palace – and were waiting for the army to transport them for veterinary treatment. care.

About half an hour later, Westminster police said the rest of the horses had been found – ending a frantic search but leaving many questions unanswered.