An eight-year-old girl has been killed and 10 people were taken to hospital after a Land Rover crashed into a girls’ prep school building.

Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland fought back tears as she announced the age of the victim during a press conference outside the school in Wimbledon, south London, on Thursday.

Chief Paramedic Dr John Martin from the London Ambulance Service said a total of 16 people were treated at The Study Preparatory School in Camp Road following the incident.

The Metropolitan Police said a woman in her 40s has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and remains in police custody.

Ms Kelland’s voice broke as she told reporters at the scene: “Very sadly one of the children, an eight-year-old girl, died at the scene.

“Our thoughts are with her family at this incredibly difficult time.”

Dr Martin also gave an update at the press conference, saying: “At 9.54 we received a 999 call to a collision on Camp Road in Wimbledon.

“We dispatched multiple resources including specialist critical care paramedics, London’s air ambulance and 15 ambulances.

“We declared a major incident. We treated 16 patients on scene. Sadly, as we’ve heard, one eight-year-old girl died.”

The force said the incident is not being treated as terror-related.

The chairman of the board of governors, John Tucker, said the community is “profoundly affected” by the tragedy.

He declined to comment further as he stood beside the school’s headteacher Helen Lowe, who was holding hands with headteacher-elect Sharon Maher.

Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond, whose daughter previously attended the school, told the PA news agency that several of those hurt were “critically injured”.

He said: “There are a number of people who are critically injured, as I understand it, and given the scale of the response from emergency services… this is a very serious incident.”

Police extended a large cordon around the school and television pictures from overhead showed the car up against the wall of the building, while firefighters and paramedics stood near a gap in the fencing at the entrance to the site.

Officers moved dog walkers and passers-by away from the scene as an air ambulance remained on the edge of the Common while a number of ambulances parked nearby.

Wimbledon resident Julie Atwood told PA: “My daughter used to go to this school. It’s a girls’ school.

“Wimbledon is like a little village. For this to happen in Wimbledon is unheard of. It’s terrible.”

Tweets from Wimbledon and Putney Commons urged the public to stay away from the area.

The school, which costs £5,565 per term, is for girls aged four to 11 and sits on Wimbledon Common, just a mile away from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club as it hosts the world-famous tennis tournament.