Moscow taxi crashes into World Cup crowd, eight injured

A taxi has driven into a crowd in central Moscow, injuring eight people including some Mexicans who are in the city for the soccer World Cup, Russian officials and an eyewitness say.

Interfax news agency cited a source as saying that the driver was drunk at the time of the incident, which occurred on Saturday near Red Square. Eight people have sought medical assistance, Moscow police said.

Moscow's traffic management authority said the taxi driver had a licence issued in Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic. The authority cited the driver as saying he had not driven into the crowd on purpose.

A witness at the scene told Reuters that some of the people hit were wearing Mexican team colours. Mexico take on Germany on Sunday in their first World Cup match at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium.

AP