Paris: At least 77 peoples were killed and many others injured as a truck rammed into crowd in Nice, southern France, local TV channels reported early on Friday, citing the prosecutor of Nice.
At this stage, "we can not describe these things as an attack, but many elements suggest that," BFMTV quoted Jean-Michel Pretre as saying, Xinhua reported.
At 22:30 Thursday night local time, a truck drove at high speed into the crowd who gathered on the promenade to watch fireworks marking July 14, the French national day, wrote Christian Estrosi, president of the region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, on Twitter.
Both the French TV station BFM and the local newspaper Nice-Matin are reporting that the driver is a 31-year-old with dual French-Tunisian nationality.
BFM is quoting a police source via Agence France-Presse who said an ID card had been found inside the truck. Reports say the man was a Nice resident.
"We stress that none of these details are confirmed", the reports said.
The French president, François Hollande, however has confirmed that 77 people have died “including children”.
"France has been struck on the day of her national holiday ... the symbol of liberty. We show our solidarity towards the victims and their families. All means are being deployed to help the wounded", he said
Hollande said he would go to Nice on Friday to support the city.
“France is horrified by what has taken place, this monstrosity of using a lorry to deliberately kill dozens of people who had come to celebrate 14 July.
“France is afflicted but I assure you she is strong and she will always be stronger than the fanatics that want to strike her today.”
Meanwhile, the authorities said no Indian is reported to be affected in the Bastille Day attack.
"Our Ambassador in Paris is in touch with the Indian community in Nice. So far no report of any Indians affected," External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted today.
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