Terrorist attack in Nice: truck hits Bastille Day crowd killing 84 people

At least 84 people have been killed and 150 injured – including 50 children – after a truck crashed into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day.

Horrifying pictures and videos have emerged of bodies strewn across the street after the lorry driver ploughed into revellers along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, southern France.

The truck driver was shooting from the window of the cab as he smashed through the throngs of people – many still in beachwear – at 40mph.

He then emerged shooting from the vehicle before being gunned down by police.

Guns and grenades were found in the back of the truck “suggesting a premeditated attack”. Other videos posted to Twitter show terrified people rushing away from the scene.

Panicked crowds, including a woman with a push chair, can be seen dashing for safety and falling over each other in their bid to escape.

Sebastien Humbert, prefect for the Alpes-Maritime area, told BFM TV: “A truck rammed into the crowd over a long distance, which explains this extremely heavy [death] toll.”

He added the truck driver had been shot dead and that he was treating the incident as an attack.

He drove at high speed for 100 metres before hitting the the crowd, according to reports.

One witness Tweeted: “I’m in Nice and I cannot describe the situation – scary awful.

“Dead bodies everywhere people killed in front of my eyes.

“Had to be planned.”

Harjit Sarang, 42, a surrogacy lawyer from London, was in the city with her husband and two young sons, aged six and nine.

She was caught up in the panic immediately after the incident as crowds rushed through the streets away from the main promenade.

Another witness told Europe1: “Everybody turned around and saw a massive truck, a 35 tonner, which went into the crowd, up onto the pavement and was crushing everybody.

People were flying in all directions, who were thrown in all directions, and he continued, continued on his route almost to the end of the Promenade without stopping.

“People started running in all directions, there was shouting, there were screams.

“There were scenes of panic everywhere and when I wanted to cross back to get home there were dead bodies everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, on the road, it was horrific.”

A picture has emerged showing a smashed up truck – allegedly the one involved in the incident.

Police shot and killed the driver, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for the French Interior Ministry. Police found firearms, explosives and grenades in the truck, Estrosi said. So far, no group has claimed responsibility. Anti-terror prosecutors have taken over the investigation, according to BFMTV, citing the prosecutor’s office.

Here are the latest developments in the tragedy:

• Hollande addressed the nation, saying all measures are being employed to help the victims. Security measures will be increased and an existing state of emergency, which was scheduled to end later this month, will be extended three months. He said France must exhibit vigilance in the face of terrorist threats.

• The streets were dense with people when the attack occured. About 100 people were injured, officials said. Witness Tony Molina said he saw bodies of the dead lying in the street, covered in blue tarps and marked so emergency vehicles didn’t run over them.

• Preliminary information from French officials is that there was one individual in the truck, according to a U.S. law enforcement official briefed on the attack.

• American Dominique Molina, who was watching from a balcony, said the fireworks had just ended and a crowd on the beach was disbanding. “People were flooding the streets, just walking away from the show, and I heard a lot of loud noises and people were screaming and so to the west, a big moving truck was driving on the promenade, just barreling over people and hitting — running people over.” She estimated the truck moved at 20-25 mph. Molina said her teenage son witnessed the carnage. “It’s something you’re not supposed to see,” she said. “I grabbed my son, I felt like shielding him, protecting him from seeing that. It happened so fast, it was like in slow-motion.”

• Paul Delane, an American, described the chaos. “All of a sudden, just people, thousands of people, started running in one direction. Well, my partner took my hand immediately and we started running with everybody and honestly in my head I had no idea what was going on and the music was so loud and I didn’t really see a truck, but just people running and screaming and crying and people carrying their children, and it was just very frightening.”

French officials have confirmed they are investigating the atrocity as a terror attack and there are also reports of gunmen on the loose in the city.The terrorist is reportedly a 31-year-old French Tunisian, believed to be a resident of Nice – an identity card was found at the scene.French TV channel iTele reported one gunman believed to be one of two terrorists had “holed up in a nice restaurant downtown” but was then “neutralized” by police.The channel says it is not believed the man had taken any hostages during the incident.The man is believed to have been in the lorry with the driver and fled on foot to a restaurant called Le Buffalo nearby, where he was killed by an officer with a handgun.

A top politician of the Alpes-Maritime department, Eric Ciotti, said police killed the driver “apparently after an exchange of gunfire”. French newspaper Le Figaro quoted police sources saying officers found weapons, guns and grenades inside the lorry cab, indicating it was a premeditated terrorist attack. Police are now actively seeking out any accomplices involved in planning the atrocity and specialist anti-terror detectives from Paris have taken over the investigation from local officers.