According to police, the car – a dark vehicle with a notchback – had crashed into the capital’s landmark at around 11:30 pm on Sunday evening, having driven from the east along the famous Unter den Linden street. The car then came to a halt as it became wedged between two columns of the monument.

Firefighters found a dead man in the car, a police spokesman said, but said they were “relatively sure” that no one else was in the car at the time of the collision.

On Twitter, the police later said that, according to initial findings, no one else was harmed in the incident. “The investigation into the identity of the driver and the course of events is ongoing,” they said.

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How fast the vehicle had been traveling is as yet unclear – as is the identity of the driver and the background to the incident.

Gegen 23:30 Uhr fuhr ein Pkw von Unter den Linden kommend gegen das #BrandenburgerTor. Der Fahrer wurde dabei tödlich verletzt. Weitere Personen kamen nach ersten Erkenntnissen nicht zu Schaden. Die Ermittlungen zur Identität des Fahrers und zum Hergang dauern an.
^tsm

— Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) January 15, 2023

30 emergency personnel attended the scene and a visual barrier was set up around the destroyed passenger car. According to the fire department, investigators secured evidence at the scene of the incident on Pariser Platz in the Mitte district of Berlin.

Whether the square in front of the Brandenburg Gate, which is popular with tourists, will be made freely accessible again in the course of the day was still unclear on Monday morning.

Black marks and minor chipping could be seen on the massive columns of the over 200 year-old monument.