Barcelona attack victims hail from around the globe

PARIS: The dead and injured in Barcelona were a snapshot of the world – men, women and children from at least two dozen nations – testifying to the huge global appeal of the sun-kissed city with its bounty of must-visit sites and its star-studded football team.

Families, friends and government officials from Paris to Sydney, San Francisco to Berlin scrambled yesterday to discover whether their loved ones and citizens were among those mowed down by suspected militants, who zig-zagged down Barcelona’s always-crowded Las Ramblas promenade in a white van, killing and maiming indiscriminately.

In Belgium, the KFC Heur Tongeren football team was mourning the loss of Elke Vanbockrijck, the mother of two of its junior players, aged 10 and 14.

The boys and their father, a policeman, were unhurt, the club president, Arnould Partoens, said.

However, Belgium officials confirmed that the mother was among the 13 people killed in Thursday’s attack in Barcelona.

Partoens said the family was on vacation in Barcelona.

France, already struck repeatedly by terror attacks on its own soil, was again hit hard, counting 26 of its citizens among the more than 100 people injured in the Spanish attacks.

The French Foreign Ministry said at least 11 were seriously hurt.

The Paris prosecutors’ office quickly opened its own investigation, bringing France’s domestic security agency in to assist.

Italy said two Italians were among the dead. One appeared to be a young father from Legnano, a town in northern Italy.

German Foreign Ministry counted at least 13 Germans injured – some “injured so seriously that they are still fighting for their lives,” said spokesman Martin Schaefer.

Two Australian women, including one traveling on a British passport, were seriously injured, and two Australian men were treated for injuries in hospital but then discharged, said Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

A 5-year-old Irish boy suffered a broken leg and his father was also injured, according to the Irish government. They were part of a family of four celebrating the boy’s birthday.

Romania’s foreign ministry says three Romanians are among the injured.

All three were hospitalised, and the ministry said that two are in stable condition while the third suffered light injuries.