“People either caught in path or forced to jump onto rocks over beach barrier”, he said.
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Images on television showed the Promenade Des Anglais sealed off, crawling with police and ambulances and authorities from the local Alpes-Maritimes prefecture urged residents to stay indoors.
Over the past week, France had been breathing a sigh of relief after successfully hosting the month-long Euro 2016 football championship, which passed off without incident despite fears of attacks. I have directed my team to be in touch with French officials, and we have offered any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice.
Bastille Day, known as Le Quatorze Juillet in France, is celebrated each year on July 14 and commemorates the Storming of the Bastille in 1789.
Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native who spoke nearby, said he saw a truck drive into the crowd.
News channel BFM TV is now reporting 30 people have been killed.
The exact nature of the attack was unclear, but the Paris anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office was put in charge of the investigation. In custody, he expresses his hatred for France, the police, the military and Jews.
Writing online, Nice Matin journalist Damien Allemand who was at the waterside said the fireworks display had finished and the crowd had got up to leave when they heard a noise and cries.
“There was a lot of screams coming from ahead of us where the truck was and people just running towards us”, she said.
Suddenly I heard a huge, what I can only describe as maybe an explosion or a crash.
Witnesses said bodies of victims were strewn over the road for more than a mile. The president of the Nice region says at least 60 people have been killed. The individual, a male, was killed by police and it does not appear there was any gunfire from the truck, according to the official.
Violet said she saw bodies covered in blue sheets and families mourning loved ones – two sisters and a brother from Poland who had lost two siblings; a family whose mother had died.
Guns and grenades were later said to have been found inside the truck, which mounted the pavement at approximately 40mph and steered directly towards hundreds of people watching a fireworks display.
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At least 74 people were killed and dozens injured when a truck slammed into a crowd in the French Riviera city during Bastille Day celebrations.
