‘I saw bodies flying like bowling pins in its path. Heard sounds, howls that I will never forget’
Survivors and witnesses to the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice describe how scenes of rejoicing turned to terror
It was a lovely night in Nice, Damien Allemand recalled. Thousands of people thronged the seaside promenade that skirts the edge of the city, faces tilted upward to watch fireworks explode overhead in honour of France’s favourite holiday. Light and music spilled from restaurants, cheers punctuated the bursts of fireworks.
Allemand, a reporter for Nice Matin, a local newspaper, was on his way to leave when he heard the crack of gunshots cut through the revelry. A fraction of a second later, a huge white truck went roaring past. It ploughed into the crowds, as though it intended to hit as many people as possible.
“I saw bodies flying like bowling pins in its path. Heard sounds, howls that I will never forget,” Allemand wrote in a post on the website Medium. The “truck of death,” as he called it, had passed just several meters from where he stood.
For a moment, Allemand was frozen. People streamed past him, screaming, crying. He heard someone yell, “get to shelter.” Another pleaded, “where is my son?”
The attack in the French Riviera city of Nice Thursday night left at least 80 people dead and 18 more critically injured. The driver of the truck mowed down dozens of people and fired on others before being shot down by police, regional president Christian Estrosi said.
