A couple from the United States said they heard “an explosion” when a police boat travelling at “high speed” struck Westminster Bridge on the River Thames today, injuring five officers.
Jim Bagley, from Gloucester, Massachusetts, told the Press Association: “We were standing in line to get onto the city cruise hop on, hop off tours, and we saw two police boats coming up the river.
“One was an orange boat that went under the bridge and left a great big wave, and then there was a black boat that came up behind it, the police boat.
“It looks to me that he got stuck in the wake of the other boat that had just passed through the bridge and slammed into the wall on the opposite side.
“We didn’t see it happen, but we heard the explosion… the next thing we saw was three people in the water, coming down the river.”
He added: “We were wondering why they were under way at high speed to begin with.”
Katherine Bagley said: “They were both in pursuit of something farther down the river, but they never… the second boat never got to it because it crashed into the bridge with a big bang.”