Eyewitnesses have described the horrific scenes when two horses ran amok during a major tourist event, leaving 19 people injured.

The creatures got spooked near the Birdcage on Front Street, Hamilton, on Wednesday evening and galloped away from their owner, dragging their empty carriage behind them.

They took off down the street as far as Bank of Butterfield, where they ploughed into a dense crowd watching Gombey dancers perform.

Many were trapped beneath the wheels of the vehicle.

Katherine Dunmore, 23, eating dinner on the balcony of the Pickled Onion restaurant when the drama unfolded around 7.30.

She described her horror at seeing the “clearly startled” pair of horses taking off toward the crowd. “The Bermuda cricket team were whistling to try to warn people... there was one gentleman who was nearer the crowd who yelled as loud as he could to ‘get out of the way’ and ‘look out’ and a few people on the outskirts of the circle managed to get out the way,” said Ms Dunmore, from Southampton.

“Once they reached the deep crowd people were being thrown down due to mass confusion and chaos. Then you saw the carriage go up slightly and the horses just seemed to stop.

“There was a mad chaos, which reminded me of the movies we watch on TV when the bulls get out in Mexico and clobber the crowds. I really couldn’t believe it.”

Angie Crossno, 47, from Charleston, South Carolina, had arrived in Bermuda on vacation earlier on Wednesday. She was dining with a friend on the balcony of Flanagans and watching the Gombeys when she became aware of chaos below.

“Seeing these horses coming down the street I was thinking ‘they can’t be part of the show, they’re going too fast’ she said. “I saw them slam into the crowd. There was no way they could have stopped in time.

“People were on the ground and screaming and crying.”

Ms Crossno praised the horses owner, Ray Bean, for rushing to get the animals despite having suffered injured ribs when they crushed him up against another carriage.

“He went straight to the horses, and took them immediately down a side street. I thought ‘wow, hooray for him, he did a good job in the midst of all that’,” she said.

Minister of Cultural Affairs Wayne Perinchief was standing right next to the scene where the injured were trampled.

“People were trying to get out of the way, and some of them were getting clipped by the carriage. Other people were yelling to get out of the way but it was hard to hear them, and the people who were hurt didn’t even know what was happening. The horses just went straight into the crowd,” he said.

Mr. Perinchief, who helped lift the carriage off a group of people trapped underneath, praised all of those who joined the rescue effort. “The people of Bermuda can be proud of themselves and the way they responded. Members of the public jumped in straight away to help the injured and the crowd took directions well and cleared the area for officials,” he said.

“A group of men acted very quickly and went to the horses heads and started to calm them down. A group of us also started lifting the carriage off the people who were stuck under it. Everyone was acting very quickly. Other people were calling 911 and people rushed to administer first aid. The response from the Police was instantaneous. The organisers responded very quickly and kept people calm.”

Shop assistant Raymisha Philpott, 23, from Devonshire, had just finished serving a customer at the Habanos gift shop on Front Street when the horses galloped past the window.

She said: “We heard screaming and that’s what made everybody look up. It was two horses pulling an empty carriage — it looked like a movie. Everybody went outside and everybody was saying that it didn’t look real.”

The 23-year-old, from Devonshire, added: “I saw little children crying when I went outside right after it happened. Everybody was running.”

Anjula Bean, owner of the Bee’s Knees tourist store, was outside her shop when the horses “came galloping at a speed” down Front Street. “You couldn’t scream or tell anybody because of the Gombeys’ music. When they finally heard the clickety clack it was pretty horrible. Everybody was in a state of shock afterwards. The mood was very sombre,” she said.

Shop assistant Elizabeth Adams described how one man ran along Front Street after the animals. “I have never seen anybody run so fast trying to catch those horses,” she said. “They were up on their back legs trying to get over the people.

“They just crashed over the people. Everybody was screaming: ‘get out of the way!’.”

Cruise ship passengers from the Celebrity X vessel Zenith were still recounting the incident yesterday morning at the number six passenger terminal on Front Street. John Housler, 60, from North Carolina, said he watched as “the horses came flying into the crowd”. He added: “The noise of the music was so loud that you couldn’t hear anybody warning anybody.”

His wife Karen, 53, from North Carolina, said she was impressed with the speedy reaction from organisers and emergency services. “There didn’t seem to be any panic. One woman stood up and said: ‘are there any doctors?’. They said: ‘just be calm’. They got on top of the situation immediately.” Mrs. Housler said people onboard the ship were upset but recognised that it was a “one-off accident”.

The Zenith left the Island at 3 p.m. yesterday.