The Daily Mail reported horrific experiences of American tourists who shared eyewitness accounts of their fateful tryst with the media.
One New Yorker slept with the phone next to her ear Thursday night, waiting to receive news about an aunt who has been missing ever since 84 were killed in the Nice, France terror attack.
Annie Kleinschmidt told the Daily Mail Online that no one has heard from her aunt Claire Benchimoun, 83, and Claire’s sister Raymonde Maman, 77, since they went to watch the fireworks on Thursday night, reported The Daily Mail.
What was supposed to be a celebration of Bastille Day turned into chaos when a man plowed his truck through the crowd of thousands for more than a mile.
Nearly a 100 people dived into the sea as they tried to escape, while witnesses reported seeing bodies fly like ‘bowling pins’ across the road.
An American father and son are among the dead.
Sean Copeland, 51, and his 11-year-old son Brodie, who were believed to be on holiday in France at the time of the attack, have been confirmed dead by friends online.
Kleinschmidt, who is originally from France, said her cousin, Benchimoun’s daughter, has been desperately searching hospitals in the port city but has not been able to find out any information.
‘We have no news, nobody answers the phone,’ Kleinschmidt said. ‘We are just panicked.’
Kleinschmidt said she couldn’t believe it when she heard about the attacks. She had just talked to her aunt, who she has a very close relationship with, on the phone on Saturday morning.
‘Nothing could predict that,’ she said of the massacre. ‘Nothing.’
‘It’s very upsetting. All these killers, they amount to nothing in life and they think they can be somebody by killing other people.’
A large white truck plunged into the crowd of revelers around 11pm Thursday night as they stood on Nice’s beachfront Promenade des Anglais to celebrate France’s biggest public holiday.
Local deputy mayor Christian Estrosi said the truck plowed 1.3 miles (slightly more than 2 kilometres) through the crowd.
Eyewitnesses said they could hear gunshots ringing out in the street as the driver got out of his truck and opened fire on hotels and cafes before he was shot dead by police.
Read the full story by The Daily Mail here.
Feature Image courtesy: AP
