Police: Car ploughs into parade crowd in New Orleans; 12 hurt

Police say 12 people were injured when a vehicle ploughed into a crowd watching the Krewe of Endymion parade in the Mid-City section of New Orleans.

The crash was reported on Saturday at about 6.45pm (1.45pm Sunday NZT).

New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman Ambria Washington says that "initial reports show so far that about a dozen people are in critical condition."

Twelve people were injured during the parade by one of three Mardi Gras super krewes.

She says that number could increase as the investigation continues.

One woman at the scene told the New Orleans Advocate that a silver truck whisked by her just feet away as she was walking through the intersection.

Carrie Kinsella said, "I felt a rush it was so fast."

Twenty-year-old Kourtney McKinnis told the Advocate that the driver of the truck seemed almost unaware of what he had just done.

"He was just kind of out of it," she said.