A large truck slammed into a crowd of people who had gathered for a Bastille Day fireworks show in the southern French city of Nice Thursday evening, and the city’s mayor confirmed there were fatalities. It is being speculated that up to 60 people may have been killed
An exact number of deaths was not immediately known, but mayor Christian Estrosi posted on Twitter that there appeared to be “dozens” of fatalities and urged residents to stay at their homes.
The apparent attack happened at around 10:30 p.m. local time on the Promenade des Anglais, the city’s main boulevard along the Mediterranean Sea.
The Nice-Matin newspaper quoted one of its reporters as saying the truck driver “mounted onto the Prom and he drove on everyone.” The reporter added, “people are running, it’s panic.”
A photo taken by the reporter showed around a dozen people lying in the street, with some being tended to by emergency personnel.
Reports of shots being fired could not immediately be confirmed, and may have been confused with the sound of fireworks.
The paper posted an image of the truck on Twitter, captioning it, “The truck that drove into the crowd.”
July 14 is a national holiday in France that commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris and the start of the French Revolution.
