Two people have been killed and 10 others injured after a car crashed into a group of people near a train station in Caen in northern France, French reports say.

“A car deliberated rammed into pedestrians opposite the station,” local prefect David Clavière told reporters, adding that seven of those injured were in a critical condition.

A man was later arrested after authorities launched a major emergency response in the wider Normandy region.

Caen Mayor Aristide Olivier said investigators were trying to understand what had led to the driver’s actions. Witnesses said a fight had broken out between two groups before the incident took place.

“For the moment, we are not dealing with a terrorist motive, but the investigation is only just beginning,” said Bruno Coutanceau, a top security official for Caen.

All of the victims appeared to be men between the ages of 17 and 40, he told AFP.

The suspect, a 26-year-old man born in Russia, was later arrested around 20km (12 miles) away in the port town of Ouistreham.

The mayor of Caen later told local media his car had been tracked by the city’s CCTV network.

He was not previously known to intelligence services and police had been aware of him “only for traffic offences”, Clavière said.

Social media videos from the scene appeared to show crowds gathering around police cars and ambulances, where a large area was cordoned off.

A spokesperson for the local administration of Calvados told the BBC that some of those injured were receiving treatment in the emergency ward of a nearby hospital.

Police have opened an investigation into the incident, which will be led by detectives from Caen’s Specialised Crime Division.

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