Eighteen victims fighting for their lives after terror attack
Unclear if Britons are among the 84 dead or the scores of injured
EIGHTEEN people injured during the Bastille Day lorry attack in Nice remain in hospital in a lifethreatening condition, French authorities have said.
It is still unclear how many Britons have been caught up in the massacre, caused when FrenchTunisian father-of-three Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove the hired vehicle into crowds celebrating the French national day, resulting in at least 84 deaths.
Lahouaiej Bouhlel was killed in a shoot-out with police.
A total of 85 people are still in hospital as a result of their injuries, with 18 in a life-threatening condition, French health minister Marisol Touraine said.
Speaking to reporters in Nice, she said while scores of people who were taken to hospital have been released, some may need further medical treatment.
Crying relatives hugged each other outside the Hopital Pasteur yesterday as they learned news of their loved ones.
A medical student who volunteered to help at the hospital said he had been one of many who helped with the bodies.
The 21-year-old, who did not wish to give his name, said: “It was all about helping identify and move bodies, dead bodies.”
Six people remain in custody following the attack on the Promenade des Anglais Thursday.
A seventh person – Lahouaiej Bouhlel’s estranged wife – was released from custody. She is the mother of the killer’s three children, and was in the process of divorcing him.
The promenade reopened about 36 hours later, as holidaymakers walked along the waterside stretch, which is lined with hotels and restaurants, while police officers kept watch. The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was “a soldier” acting on its behalf by committing the murders.
The IS claim of responsibility came after the French authorities said Lahouaiej Bouhlel had no known links with terrorists, unlike those behind previous attacks in Paris. And a former neighbour said the 31-year-old had never spoken about extremism.
Speaking outside the high-rise block of flats on Boulevard Henri Sappia, where the suspect had previously lived with his family, Samiq, 19, who did not want to give his surname, said: “I never heard him speak about extremism, I cannot believe that he was a member of Islamic State.”
He said people thought the killer had psychological problems.
“He was a little bit crazy,” Samiq said, but he added that he was shocked by what had happened.
The apartment on Route de Turin where Lahouaiej Bouhlel was believed to be living before the attack was raided by police. A view through the keyhole showed items including what appeared to be boxes of medication and a strip of tablets.
The driver’s father has said that Lahouaiej Bouhlel had received psychiatric treatment in the past. A neighbour and her young daughter said he lived a reclusive life.
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who announced 12,000 extra police reserves are being called up alongside the 120,000 police and soldiers already in place across the country, said Bouhlel appeared to have been radicalised only recently.
Speaking yesterday morning, Pope Francis prayed for the end of “terror and death” of innocents as he expressed closeness to families and all of France mourning the loss of lives.