“It was a meat grinder on the road”: eyewitness accounts of the terrorist attack in Nice

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On July 14, during the celebration of Bastille Day in Nice (France), a terrorist attack occurred - a Frenchman of Tunisian origin drove a truck onto the Promenade des Anglais, full of people.

According to the latest data, 84 people died as a result of the attack, hundreds suffered, 18 - in a critical condition.

We offer you eyewitness accounts of what happened in Nice, collected by the publication “Medusa".

Alexander Arkhangelsky, publicist and TV host

“Since the buses in Nice after nine in the evening practically do not go, only nightly, by rounds, I began to get out in advance from the thick crowd on the Promenade des Anglais, not waiting for the end of the fireworks. And then I switched to the other side, otherwise it was not to break through, everything is so tight. And in a few minutes I heard (through the roaring rock - the soundtrack of the holiday) some dull claps and loud squeals. People on the other side scattered where, many — to the seashore. What I saw with my own eyes - a woman is lying, rolling a bicycle. Instant sirens, volunteers braked cars to give speed and police. All fled. Many wept. They say the attack: the truck crashed into a solid crowd. "

Grace-Ann Morrow

“There were so many people who came to celebrate Bastille Day. And suddenly, quite unexpectedly, a terrible panic began on the streets. All fled from the side of the Negresco Hotel, where the jazz festival was held. I lost my aunt and uncle in the crowd, I was looking for them, and no one understood what was happening. There was total chaos. People were shouting, the children were crying, the security forces were talking on the radio. I speak quite a bit of French, but I have heard the repeated word “Xuishi, Xuisi”, that is, suicide. It's a complete frenzy ... Me and my family were at the Negresco hotel just 20 minutes before everything happened. We were so close. It all happened on such a nice evening. This is a paradox. So scary".

Richard Gutiar, Journalist

“I was standing on the balcony of my hotel. Fireworks just over. Suddenly a white truck drove out. It was strange, because the streets were blocked for traffic. The truck drove very slowly, some people screamed. All this seemed strange, so I began to shoot what is happening on the phone. A motorcyclist drove up to the truck and, apparently, tried to open the driver's door while driving. It was all like a movie. At the intersection, the police opened fire, after which the driver turned on the gas and began to crush people. I can not judge why it happened: because of the shooting, or he planned it from the beginning. ”

John Curtis

“We watched the fireworks from the beach fence. There were thousands of people there, including many families with small children. When the fireworks were over, we walked back along the Promenade des Anglais. There were no cars, and both lanes of the roadway were completely occupied by pedestrians. <…> Suddenly, from the other side, we saw a white truck, it was going very fast and meandering from side to side. I immediately realized that he would run over people, he was driving straight into the crowd. People began to scatter. I have never seen such a panic. We were blown away by the crowd and we were able to get to the hotel. "

Maryam Violet, a journalist, was in a cafe near the waterfront

“Everyone was absolutely shocked, I saw that people suddenly started running away and shouting. People shouted: "This is a terrorist attack, this is a terrorist attack." It was obvious that the driver was doing this on purpose. I walked almost a mile (about 1,5 km) and the bodies of the dead were everywhere. <…> I met two sisters with their brother, all from Poland, they grieved for their close relatives. The youngest was crying, while the others did not know what to do. <...> There were many Muslims among the victims, I saw headscarves on their heads, some people spoke Arabic. A mother died in one family, her relatives called her a martyr in Arabic. "

Dominic Molina, was on the balcony of the hotel overlooking the embankment

"A few moments after the shots, everything fell silent, there was a terrible silence, it was possible to hear howls, screams and crying in it."

Maxim Kostenko

“We were sitting with friends in a restaurant on a parallel English Embankment Street, celebrating the marriage of our girlfriend. It all started instantly: the restaurant was literally swept by a running crowd of people. They were completely distraught, chairs and dishes were falling, tables were turned over. At first we thought it was some kind of game or flash mob. I remember, even managed to laugh. But literally in a few seconds it was no time for laughter: it became clear that something terrible was happening. The crowd scattered our entire company. I do not know what happened to my friends. Then it turned out that someone was hiding behind a palm tree, and someone was generally at sea. Me and several other people were let into the back room of the restaurant. And we sat there. Restaurant workers said it’s safer. Shots were heard from the street, but I do not know who shot. Somewhere in an hour we were allowed to break up. My apartment is around the corner. I quickly came home and looked for my friends until the morning. Until now, I can not believe that all this happened not in the cinema, but with us, real people. ”

Eyewitness accounts also collected service with the BBC.

Nayder Shafey from Egypt videotaped the moment when the truck driver was killed. The car that crushed more 80 people stopped at a distance of a meter in front of the Egyptian.

“Right after the fireworks ended, people were on the beach, and I was there too, celebrating French National Day. Five minutes after the end, people walked down the street, and suddenly we heard loud screams. I saw a truck coming towards me. I was right in front of the truck on the main street, I saw people under the car, already hit. He stopped in front of me, about a meter away - I saw the driver through the glass.

At first I thought it was an accident, that he lost control and crashed into people by accident. And I screamed at him, yelled at him to stop, because there were people under the truck. But he didn’t look at anyone, he just moved around in the cabin - so, you know, nervously, aggressively, as if he was looking for something.

His hands were on the steering wheel - I thought he had lost control and was trying to stop the truck. But he took something - it seemed to me that it was a mobile phone, and I thought again: he probably wants to call an ambulance.

And then the police appeared - behind me, because I was facing the truck. And I saw him take out a gun and start shooting through the glass. At that moment, the police pushed me away and ordered me to run. They repeated: degagez [get out of here]. And I retreated about four meters.

I took my phone and began filming all this shooting and what was happening around. I didn't run - I just froze. I kept filming until the police killed him. The policeman saw that I was filming, he aggressively shouted at me and ordered me to run away. I just ducked down - because they said: “down, down!” - because bullets and shooting.

And I lay down on the ground, but continued to film. And when he came up again - he walked straight towards me, shouting to me and everyone on the beach, telling me to run - I think they could have assumed that the truck was bombed. And then I realized how serious it was, and I ran along with other people who were on the beach.”

Nice resident Vassim buchlel also was on the waterfront at the time of the attack.

“It was a meat grinder on the road. The corpses were everywhere. ”

According to him, when the truck stopped, the driver got out of the car and started shooting at the people who had survived.

“He was driving in a zigzag - it was impossible to understand where he would move in the next second. My wife was a meter away from me... She died. The truck swept away everything in its path... poles, trees. We've never seen anything like it. Some people tried to cling to the door of the truck and stop it.”

Tarudi Wahid Musta, Nice resident

“I almost stepped on a corpse, it was monstrous. It all looked like a battlefield after the battle. All these bodies of the dead and their families ... They (friends and relatives) kept the cold hands of the dead under the truck for hours and did not leave. And you can't even tell them anything, you can't console them in any way. ”

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