The vehicle ploughed into a queue at a bus stop during afternoon rush hour on Friday, killing three people and injuring three others.

“There is no evidence from the material we have analysed so far — including witness statements and photos — that the incident was intentional,” police spokesman Ola Osterling told AFP.

The driver, who had initially been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, was in hospital, Osterling said.

Neither the driver nor the victims have been named.

AFP’s initial report stated that Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that his thoughts were with the victims and their families.

“I have received the tragic news that several people have died and been injured at a bus stop in central Stockholm,” he wrote on X.

“People who might have been on their way home to family, friends, or a quiet evening at home. We do not yet know the cause, but right now my thoughts are primarily with those affected and their loved ones,” he said.

A woman identified as Michelle MacKey, a nurse, told the Expressen daily she stepped off another bus at the scene just after the accident happened.

“I crossed the road and saw the double-decker bus that had mowed down an entire bus stop queue,” she said.

She said she saw injured and dead people lying on the ground, with many screaming while others tried to help.

“There must have been more people under the bus,” she said. “I thought it was an exercise at first. That maybe they were dolls. It was so unreal. Chaos.”

The busy Valhallavagen avenue, where the deaths occured, was reopened on Friday evening.

Police technicians were working at the scene but emergency vehicles had left.