A Christmas market in Germany erupted into chaos when a driver plowed through a crowd of people.

The terrifying moment happened in Magdeburg -- a city between Hanover and Berlin -- with local reports saying it kicked off a few minutes after 7 PM Friday ... when a BMW drove through the market.

Multiple outlets report a car zoomed down a corridor of the market and left many people on the ground in clear pain.

Local reports say the driver was taken into custody right after driving through the market ... and, the remaining patrons were told to leave in an orderly manner while emergency services tended to the injured.

It's not clear how many were hurt or killed in this incident -- which happened about two hours ago -- though early estimates say somewhere in between 60-80 were hurt. At least one person is dead, according to multiple preliminary reports.

A German outlet, the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, spoke to an eyewitness who told them the market looked like "war-like conditions."

Local government spokespeople suspect this was a deliberate attack, The Associated Press reports.