A man and woman were killed in the early hours of Thursday morning following a car crash at the South by Southwest festival in Texas.

23 others were injured after a suspected drunk driver crashed through barricades set up by the festival and into a crowd of people. Five of those injured are said to be in critical condition. The incident occurred at around half past midnight as the driver attempted to evade a pursuing police officer. The driver, who has not been named, has been taken into police custody. He faces two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault with a vehicle.

"We had a large crowd," said Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo at a news conference following the collision. "I just thank God that a lot of the folks had already been pushed on the sidewalk or this could have been a lot worse.

"We do these events very well, but you cannot stop a person who rather than face drunk driving charges decides to speed at a high rate of speed, go around a uniformed officer forcing him to run out of the way, then at a high rate of speed show total disregard for the sanctity of human life."