Former Minister for Finance and European Commissioner Ray MacSharry saw dead bodies on the promenade in Nice as he fled the scene of Thursday night’s terrorist attack in the French city.
Mr MacSharry is holidaying in Nice and was having dinner in a hotel on Promenade des Anglais at the time of the attack.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr MacSharry said it appeared the attack, in which at least 84 people were killed and more than 100 people were injured after an armed man drove a truck at high speed into a crowd on the promenade, began just at the conclusion of a fireworks display to mark Bastille Day.
“I was in the Hotel Negresco having dinner there and the fireworks display was just outside the hotel,” the former Tánaiste said. “The beach is just across the road, the promenade, and there were thousands of people there enjoying themselves. It was a very excellent fireworks display which lasted some 30 minutes or so.
“As it was over, people were beginning to move off in all directions then out of the blue screaming and roaring occurred all over the place. I was staying in a hotel two kilometres away so I started in the direction of that hotel.”
While he did not see the truck, Mr MacSharry said it was clear from the bodies strewn along the road as he ran back to his hotel that it had already passed, travelling in the opposite direction.
“The truck had obviously come down in the opposite direction and people were dead on the roadside opposite me. It was terrible, and seeing all their families and friends trying to help them.
“The truck had passed down where I saw the dead bodies, getting away as speedily as I could from the whole episode. It appeared to me there were shots. I think I did hear them but with the hysteria of people, we were not sure. “
He added that there were thousands of people out to celebrate Bastille Day and watch the fireworks display.
“It was horrific to see so many people in a state of terror and not knowing whether there were other gunmen around and running into hotels, offices and rooms. We just kept going back to our hotel.
“There were thousands of people between me and the main body of people. You would have known by the sounds coming that it was something horrible. There were thousands there.
“I would have thought someone was running around with machine guns and it seems there were shots. It was shock and horror. The news was beginning to report dozens dead.”
He said “everything was calm until the fireworks concluded” at around 10.30pm local time, which he felt suggested the attack was timed to begin at that point.
He said the European soccer championships had just finished in France without a terrorist incident, but that this attack happened not even a week after the final between France and Portugal.
“It is a very sad occasion and the place is on lockdown. My sympathies are with the families concerned. I understand some Irish are involved. It is sad for the people of France. It can’t go on.”
