A car rammed into pedestrians Tuesday morning in Kobe, seriously injuring two people, police said.

All up, seven men and women, including the 63-year-old driver of the car, were wounded in the accident. Of those, a 45-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were seriously injured, they said.

The driver, Kunikazu Sawai of Kobe, was arrested on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in injury.

The accident occurred at an intersection just north of JR Sannomiya Station in central Kobe. The area was bustling with people on Golden Week holiday.

"The car kept moving quickly without slowing down. Two people were hit and another two were dragged by the vehicle," Yoshiyuki Takada, 43, who witnessed the accident, said.

"I heard a scream and then a bang as it crashed. The driver's eyes were wandering, and he looked absent-minded," said another witness, Yu Kujo, 24, who helped rescue some of the victims.