The lost innocents
Yannis Coviaux, four, was among the 84 victims in Nice. Yesterday, his dad spoke of a terrible loss
Some of the 10 children killed in the Nice atrocity were identified yesterday as the devastating toll of loss became clear.
One man saw six members of his family die in the massacre while it is feared an eight-year-old boy battling for his life in hospital has been orphaned after getting no visitors.
The unconscious youngster was among the crowds on the Promenade des Anglais – but unlike the other young patients, no one has come forward to identify him.
He is being cared for by a medical team who are also looking after 15 other youngsters who remain in the city’s main children’s hospital.
Christophe Lyon watched in horror as his family were killed by t ruck ter ror ist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.
His wife Veronique, 55, her son Michael Pellegrini, 28, and his grandparents Francis and Christiane Locatelli, 82 and 78 died.
Veronique’s in-laws, Gisele and Germain Lyon, 63 and 68, from Bram in southern France were also killed.
The sole su r v ivor wa s too t raumatised to speak yesterday.
A total of 30 children have been treated at the Fondation Lenval hospital – the youngest was just a few months old. Half a dozen remain in intensive care. The hospital is on the seafront in Nice, just yards from where the massacre took place.
Yesterday, hospital spokeswoman Stephanie Simpson said: “Five children are still in a critical condition, a child is stabilised and three are on life support.”
Twelve children and adolescents are also still missing in the wake of the atrocity, which saw a hired truck being driven into crowds of revellers by Bouhiel.
The father of four-year-old Kyllian Mejri had scoured local hospitals for his son after he discovered the boy’s scooter next to his wife’s body.
He was finally given the heartbreaking news yesterday that his son was among those who had died in the attack.
Kyllian’s mum Olfa Souayah Bent, 31, was also killed.
Frantic relatives are still sharing pictures of other missing children on social media to find out whether they survived.
Among the messages shared on the Twitter account “Recherche NICE” from friends and relatives desperately seeking news was a plea from the grandparents of a missing boy.
Their appeal for news was posted next to a photo of a small, blond-haired boy of around three or four.
A teacher and two students from Berlin who had been on a trip to celebrate finishing exams are also feared dead after German officials confirmed they were missing.
Friends of missing students Nick Leslie, 20, from the United States, Misha Bazelevskyy, 22, from Ukraine and Richard Kruusberg, 21, from Estonia – who were all in Nice with the European Innovation Academy – were handing out flyers in yesterday in a desperate bid to get information.
Two teenage girls, named only as Charlotte and Victoria, aged 17, have taped a handwritten note thanking the woman who saved their lives to barriers near where the lorry was finally stopped.
They put the note up outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which read: “Thank you to the lady who yelled, ‘Run, run’.
“You saved the lives of two adolescents aged 17. I cannot thank you enough.”
It then had “thank you” written 18 times.
Sean Copeland, from Austin, Texas, and his 10-year old son are among those confirmed dead.
Russian student Viktoria Savchenko, 21, was visiting Nice with a friend when she was killed in the attack.
Emmanuel Grout, 48, a senior border police commissioner, was among those killed, along with Robert Marchand, a 60-year- old industrial supervisor from Marcigny, in eastern France.
Timothy Fournier, a 27-year-old from Paris, who died trying to protect his pregnant wife.
A French psychiatrist who treated many of those who witnessed the carnage, including children, said she was afraid they would suffer post-traumatic stress.
Dr Sylvie Serret said: “I was with people who were in shock, some couldn’t speak or express themselves.”
Of the children, she said: “All described terrible scenes and the terrible images in their heads.
“The big fear is long term post traumatic stress – anxiety that could become really problematic and it’s good to prevent this sort of thing by talking to people now.”