Truck plows into crowd at French Bastille Day celebration in Nice, killing at least 75 people and injuring 50
A truck plowed through crowds of Bastille Day revelers Thursday night in the southern French town of Nice, killing at least 75 people and wounding 50 others.
The beachside celebration quickly turned to chaos as the driver reportedly opened fire on the crowd as a fireworks show ended and then slammed the panel truck loaded with grenades and other weapons through throngs of people.
The driver was shot dead by police, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for French Interior Ministry.
Sylvie Toffin, a press officer with the local prefecture, said the truck “hit several people on a long trip” down the sidewalk near Nice’s Palais de la Méditerranee, a building which fronts the beach.
She confirmed the incident was deliberate.
“It’s an attack,” she said.
Christian Estrosi, president of the region, says the truck was loaded with firearms and grenades.
(Graphic Images) Dozens dead after a truck plows into a crowd in Nice, France
Some witnesses said the truck zig-zagged through the massive crowd, aiming at people as they ran from the carnage.
Other terror attacks in France in recent years
“Everyone was calling ‘run, run, run, there’s an attack, run, run, run,’” an eyewitness told BFM-TV. “We heard some shots. We thought they were fireworks because it’s the 14th of July.”
Another witness said the truck accelerated as it mowed into the panicked mass of people. The driver then exited the cab with a gun in hand and started shooting.
Video from a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France, showed people running away from a reported car crash Thursday night.
(VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)
“There was carnage on the road,” Wassim Bouhlel, a resident of the resort city told the Associated Press. “Bodies everywhere.”
The large box truck plowed into a gathering at the Promenade des Anglais just after a fireworks display around 10:30 local time, local newspaper Nice Matin reported.
Fire near Eiffel Tower put out, not linked to Nice attack
Photos published by the newspaper at the scene showed a white truck with bullet holes in its windshield surrounded by armored police officers.
Tony Molina told CNN he watched the senseless attack unfold from his hotel room on the promenade.
“There was still a crowd of people and then you just see this big white panel truck, I couldn’t see the driver, but it just kept going at different angles from left to right at 25 to 30 miles and hour,” he said.
“People were screaming and running. There are still people I am looking at right now that are near their deceased family members.”
An Agence France-Presse reporter said the incident took place as the firework display was ending, saying that “we saw people hit and bits of debris flying around.”
“Movement of panic!!” one Twitter user wrote above a video of people moving quickly through the streets.
Other videos and pictures of the aftermath posted on social media appeared to show dead bodies in the street.
An image posted on social media showed several dead bodies in the street.
(@cwilliams559 via Twitter)
Bastille Day commemorates the storming of a prison during the French Revolution in 1789.
Nice is the capital city of the French Riviera on France’s southern coast. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi counseled residents to shelter at home in a statement on Twitter.
“Dear Nice, the driver of a truck appears to have made dozens of deaths,” Estrosi said in French, according to a translation. “Stay for the moment to your home. More info to come.”
Map of Nice, France.
(Google)
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, but France has recently seen a spate of dramatic assaults by jihadist groups, including several attacks related to ISIS.
The date of the grisly attack was especially heartbreaking as many in France had hoped to celebrate the symbolic holiday in peace.
President Obama noted the significance of the date in a statement released Thursday evening.
“On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice,” Obama said.
“On this Bastille Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world, and we know that the character of the French Republic will endure long after this devastating and tragic loss of life.”
France has suffered a number of high profile terror attacks in recent years including coordinated attacks on a stadium, bars and a rock-gig at the Bataclan in November that killed 130 people.
An attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine killed 12 people in January 2015.
This story will be updated.