A lorry racing into a crowd after Bastille Day celebrations in the French city of Nice has killed at least 84 people, injuring at least 18 more.
Witnesses in Nice have been describing the scenes of terror and panic as the tragedy unfolded.
Paddy Mullan, from Northern Ireland, told the BBC that he had "never seen" such fear.
He said the truck "came out nowhere" and started "ploughing" into the crowd.
"This lorry just mounted the kerb, across the street from us and the next thing, all you could hear was banging and shouting and screaming," he said.
"There was a lot of confusion, misdirection, because we didn't know what exactly was happening, why it was happening."
Mr Mullan said he and his girlfriend "bailed out" of the restaurant through a side exit in order to get to a safer position, going through barriers into an apartment complex behind the building.
"We were pushing all the buzzers to try and get into the apartment blocks," he said. "Eventually we got in."
Damien Allemand, a journalist with the local newspaper Nice Matin, was at the waterfront after the fireworks had finished.
"A fraction of a second later, an enormous white truck came along at a crazy speed, turning the wheel to mow down the maximum number of people," he said.
"I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route. Heard noises, cries that I will never forget."
Nice resident Wassim Bouhlel: "There was carnage on the road," he said. "Bodies everywhere."
He described how the driver got out of the truck with a gun and started shooting after the lorry had travelled down the road, running over everything that got in its way.
"It zigzagged - you had no idea where it was going. My wife... a metre away... she was dead. The lorry ripped through everything... poles, trees. We have never seen anything like it. Some people were hanging on the door and tried to stop it."
Lucy Nesbitt-Comaskey told Sky News that the sound of gunfire reminded her of the Middle East.
"It was shocking, it was devastating and I cannot believe that I have come over here for a few days and I have got mixed up in something so tragic. It was just awful.
"I said to my friend 'This doesn't sound like fireworks, it sounds like Beirut when it's under fire.
"All of a sudden people were screaming in the streets and running into all the restaurants. All the restaurants were open and people were coming. We were just sitting there and everyone came into our restaurant and the owners were saying 'Please don't go anywhere, come in, come in'."
British tourist Kevin Harris was in a hotel overlooking the scene of the tragedy.
"I heard a lot of screaming and shouting," he said. "I came out onto my terrace and in front of me I could see lots of what appeared to be bodies lying on the road just outside of where I'm sitting now actually.
"The bodies are still there, covered in white sheets. And the scene is still carrying on, these poor people are lying on the road in front of us, they're lying on there and there's lots of police obviously around and ambulances, but it's a terrible, terrible scene."
"It had been a normal evening and we were just walking around," Joel Fenster told the BBC. "Suddenly people started running, there were screams and police sirens and policemen shouting at us to evacuate.
"It was terrifying, especially because we didn't know what was going on. At the time we only had heard some kind of gunshots and we assumed that there were people running around with guns.
"There was a moment when we were running and then people were running towards us from that direction and some people were just sitting on the floor looking for some way to get out of the way."
Kayla Repan, a visitor from the US, was among the hundreds who had gathered to watch the celebrations and fireworks. "The whole city was running," she told Associated Press. "I got extremely frightened and ran away from the promenade. It was chaos."
"There were huge numbers of families. When we were crouching down behind a car, there was a mother with a young child and she was just trying to tell her young daughter that nothing's going on, that all is going to be fine."
London-based Lawyer Harjit Sarang and her children were among those caught up in the terror.
"Running through crowds in Nice with kids and terrified. Never taking kids to a public event again. Finally back to hotel. Hate this!"
She said it was the "scariest thing ever running through crowds with boys. Got back to hotel and couldn't get in for people seeking refuge!
"Can't stop shaking. Hate that my boys had to experience this," she said.
"I live 200 metres from the promenade and it took nearly one and a half hours to get back to my flat because all the roads have been closed down," BBC producer Roy Calley said.
"The police have completely taken over the city, the promenade has now been closed down. Everybody was physically pushed away from the site and told to get back in no uncertain terms by the police.
"Because the promenade was closed down all of the traffic which is quite heavy in the city was re-diverted. That means a lot of the police cars and ambulances can't physically get to the promenade because of the number of cars on the road."
Another witness, Tarubi Wahid Mosta, posted a video on Facebook which showed photos of an abandoned doll and pushchair. He said that he had come home with a victim's Yorkshire terrier.
"I almost stepped on a corpse, it was horrible. It looked like a battlefield," he said, while describing the sense of helplessness surrounding the carnage.
"All these bodies and their families... they spent hours on the ground holding the cold hands of bodies dismembered by the truck. You can't even speak to them or comfort them."
Witnesses in Nice have been describing the scenes of terror and panic as the tragedy unfolded.
Paddy Mullan, from Northern Ireland, told the BBC that he had "never seen" such fear.
He said the truck "came out nowhere" and started "ploughing" into the crowd.
"This lorry just mounted the kerb, across the street from us and the next thing, all you could hear was banging and shouting and screaming," he said.
"There was a lot of confusion, misdirection, because we didn't know what exactly was happening, why it was happening."
Mr Mullan said he and his girlfriend "bailed out" of the restaurant through a side exit in order to get to a safer position, going through barriers into an apartment complex behind the building.
"We were pushing all the buzzers to try and get into the apartment blocks," he said. "Eventually we got in."
Damien Allemand, a journalist with the local newspaper Nice Matin, was at the waterfront after the fireworks had finished.
"A fraction of a second later, an enormous white truck came along at a crazy speed, turning the wheel to mow down the maximum number of people," he said.
"I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route. Heard noises, cries that I will never forget."
Nice resident Wassim Bouhlel: "There was carnage on the road," he said. "Bodies everywhere."
He described how the driver got out of the truck with a gun and started shooting after the lorry had travelled down the road, running over everything that got in its way.
"It zigzagged - you had no idea where it was going. My wife... a metre away... she was dead. The lorry ripped through everything... poles, trees. We have never seen anything like it. Some people were hanging on the door and tried to stop it."
Lucy Nesbitt-Comaskey told Sky News that the sound of gunfire reminded her of the Middle East.
"It was shocking, it was devastating and I cannot believe that I have come over here for a few days and I have got mixed up in something so tragic. It was just awful.
"I said to my friend 'This doesn't sound like fireworks, it sounds like Beirut when it's under fire.
"All of a sudden people were screaming in the streets and running into all the restaurants. All the restaurants were open and people were coming. We were just sitting there and everyone came into our restaurant and the owners were saying 'Please don't go anywhere, come in, come in'."
British tourist Kevin Harris was in a hotel overlooking the scene of the tragedy.
"I heard a lot of screaming and shouting," he said. "I came out onto my terrace and in front of me I could see lots of what appeared to be bodies lying on the road just outside of where I'm sitting now actually.
"The bodies are still there, covered in white sheets. And the scene is still carrying on, these poor people are lying on the road in front of us, they're lying on there and there's lots of police obviously around and ambulances, but it's a terrible, terrible scene."
"It had been a normal evening and we were just walking around," Joel Fenster told the BBC. "Suddenly people started running, there were screams and police sirens and policemen shouting at us to evacuate.
"It was terrifying, especially because we didn't know what was going on. At the time we only had heard some kind of gunshots and we assumed that there were people running around with guns.
"There was a moment when we were running and then people were running towards us from that direction and some people were just sitting on the floor looking for some way to get out of the way."
Kayla Repan, a visitor from the US, was among the hundreds who had gathered to watch the celebrations and fireworks. "The whole city was running," she told Associated Press. "I got extremely frightened and ran away from the promenade. It was chaos."
"There were huge numbers of families. When we were crouching down behind a car, there was a mother with a young child and she was just trying to tell her young daughter that nothing's going on, that all is going to be fine."
London-based Lawyer Harjit Sarang and her children were among those caught up in the terror.
"Running through crowds in Nice with kids and terrified. Never taking kids to a public event again. Finally back to hotel. Hate this!"
She said it was the "scariest thing ever running through crowds with boys. Got back to hotel and couldn't get in for people seeking refuge!
"Can't stop shaking. Hate that my boys had to experience this," she said.
"I live 200 metres from the promenade and it took nearly one and a half hours to get back to my flat because all the roads have been closed down," BBC producer Roy Calley said.
"The police have completely taken over the city, the promenade has now been closed down. Everybody was physically pushed away from the site and told to get back in no uncertain terms by the police.
"Because the promenade was closed down all of the traffic which is quite heavy in the city was re-diverted. That means a lot of the police cars and ambulances can't physically get to the promenade because of the number of cars on the road."
Another witness, Tarubi Wahid Mosta, posted a video on Facebook which showed photos of an abandoned doll and pushchair. He said that he had come home with a victim's Yorkshire terrier.
"I almost stepped on a corpse, it was horrible. It looked like a battlefield," he said, while describing the sense of helplessness surrounding the carnage.
"All these bodies and their families... they spent hours on the ground holding the cold hands of bodies dismembered by the truck. You can't even speak to them or comfort them."
No comments:
Post a Comment