Car hits pedestrians in World Cup city; police say not intentional

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A 63-year-old resident was killed and three other people were hospitalised after a car mounted a pavement and hit pedestrians in the World Cup host city of Sochi, police said on Wednesday, but they said there was no suggestion it was intentional.

Police told Reuters initial signs suggested the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel.

Sochi is one of 11 host cities where Russia has been hosting the soccer World Cup. The Black Sea resort city has hosted five matches and will host the quarter-final between Russia and Croatia on Saturday.

Police said the incident took place on a street about 45 kilometres from Sochi's stadium. The driver had driven across a lane of incoming traffic before mounting the pavement, colliding with pedestrians.

Authorities have vowed to stage a safe soccer World Cup. Last month in Moscow a Kyrgyz taxi driver drove into a crowd of pedestrians near Red Square, injuring seven people. Authorities said early signs suggested that driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and lost control of the vehicle.

(Reporting by Polina Nikolskaya, Vladimir Soldatkin and Christian Lowe; writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Jack Stubbs and Peter Graff)