Attack in Nice claims victims from around the world

The Bastille Day crowd on the waterfront in Nice, France, was a festive mixture of French locals and foreign visitors. 

The lorry that slammed into them late on Thursday, apparently intent on hitting as many as possible, did not discriminate – among the 84 dead identified so far were Tunisians, Algerian, Moroccons, French, American, Russian and Swiss citizens.

The bloody attack injured another 100, at least 50 of whom are in critical condition and are still “between life and death”, French President Francois Hollande said during a press conference in Paris on Friday.

“The truck just ploughed into us, it hit everyone,” Franck Sidoli, an eyewitness, told Al Jazeera. 

In Photos: Scenes of carnage in French city of Nice

Fatima Charrihi, 60, a Nice resident and mother of seven, was among the first to be killed by the driver, her son Hamza told French media.

Hamza described her as “an extraordinary mum” and a devout Muslim who practised “real Islam, not that of the terrorists”. She is originally from Morocco.

Timothe Fournier, 27, from Paris, was also killed as he tried to push his seven-month-pregnant wife out of the lorry’s deadly path, his cousin Anais told AFP news agency.

“He was a great guy … a young dreamer, but someone who was always there for his wife and his future child,” she said.

An 11-year-old boy from Texas identified as Brodie and his 51-year-old father, Sean, were also killed. They had been in Nice on vacation along with other family members when the attack happened.

“We are heartbroken and in shock over the loss of Brodie Copeland, an amazing son and brother who lit up our lives, and Sean Copeland, a wonderful husband and father,” said a statement released by family friend Jess Davis.

Teachers and children

French authorities confirmed the death of 60-year-old athletics club president Robert Marchand.

A retired couple from Pays-Haut, in northern France, was also killed, along with their daughter and grandson, according to French daily Le Republicain Lorrain. 

Francois,82, and Christiane Locatelli, 78, were on holiday in the French Riviera with their daughter, Veronique Lyon, 55, and their 28-year-old grandson Michael Pellegrini, an enonomics teacher. 

Also killed was border police commissioner Emmanuel Grout, 45, who was off duty and had been on the Promenade des Anglais to watch the annual firework display, local media said.

The office of the Berlin mayor announced that a German teacher and two of her pupils from the capital’s Paula-Fuerst School were killed.

Meanwhile, the Swiss foreign ministry announced the deaths of a Swiss “woman and a child”, but gave no further details. It was not immediately clear if they were related.

The mayor of the Swiss town of Agno named the woman as 54-year-old customs agent Linda Casanova Siccardi, who was on holiday with her French husband, who survived the attack.

The mother of a four-year-old Tunisian boy, Olfa Bent Souayah, was also killed in the attack, and her son is still missing, according to Tunisia’s foreign ministry. 

Two Tunisian men, Bilal Labaoui and mechanic Abdelkader Toukabri, were also killed.

Two children from Algeria died, the Algerian government said.

According to reports, at least 10 children were killed in the attack. 

A 70-year-old Algerian woman who was visiting her daughter in Nice was also killed, said a spokesman for the Algerian foreign ministry.

One Russian tourist was also killed, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Russian news site Novosti-24 named her as 20-year-old university student Viktoria Savchenko, who was on holiday in Nice with a friend. The friend sustained injuries to her legs but was not in a serious condition, it added.

In Ukraine, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said a Ukrainian national was killed in the attack and another was injured.

An Armenian national was also among the dead, the Armenian foreign ministry said.