A horse-and-trailer lorry plowed into revellers at a neighborhood barbecue in the Netherlands, killing six people and leaving another seven injured. 

The accident happened around 6pm local time on Saturday when the Spanish-registered truck left a dike road on the narrow Zuidzijdsedijk, 18 miles south of Rotterdam.

Police had first confirmed at least two dead after the vehicle drove into the community barbecue, which Dutch news reports said was being hosted by an ice-skating club.

"We now have six people killed and seven injured, one seriously after yesterday's accident," police spokeswoman Mirjam Boers said.

"We are still investigating what exactly happened."

Photographs from the scene identified the truck as belonging to the El Mosca company, based in Spain.

Boers confirmed the driver, a 46-year-old Spaniard, had been arrested "and was not under the influence of alcohol," at the time of the accident.

Forensic investigators worked into the night on Saturday around the lorry where it had stopped at the bottom of the dike. Later, a crane and a tow truck hauled it back on to the road.

The local mayor, Charlie Aptroot, said after visiting the scene: "My condolences go out to the victims, their families, eyewitnesses and first responders."

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He said he had spoken to many of the people at the scene and expressed "appreciation for the way in which people are there for each other."

Quoting witnesses, the Rijnmond regional broadcaster said the truck stopped for a moment at a T-junction on the dike, before taking off and plowing into the revellers.

The incident has shocked the tight-knit community of the Nieuw-Beijerland region with police calling for more witnesses to help with the investigation.

A spokesman for the man's employer, Spanish transport company El Mosca, told Spanish newspaper La Verdad that the driver went off the road running along the dike as he tried to prevent a collision with a van.