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A Victorian couple has escaped injury after a truck ran into a crowd in Nice, France.
At least 77 people have been killed in the southern French town when a truck drove into the crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday.
More than 100 have been injured.
Horsham’s Ash and Shannyn Hawker arrived in Nice just hours before the attack.
“We arrived at 3.30pm, found our motel and headed straight to the beach,” Mr Hawker said.
He said the pair went out for tea and then watched fireworks on the beach.
“As soon as they finished, I said to Shannyn that it looked like it was going to rain, so we should hurry back to our motel,” he said.
“We pushed our way through the crowd, which was massive – I've never seen or been in such a big crowd.
“We were about halfway back to our hotel when I heard people screaming and yelling and running towards us.
It was like a stampede.
- Ash Hawker
Mr Hawker said he grabbed his wife’s arm and told her to start running.
“I held onto her arm as we sprinted into the crowd, dodging people,” he said. “We watched people fall over and people looking for cover.”
Mr Hawker said they didn’t know what had happened until they got to their room and turned on the news.
He said the couple was now sitting in their hotel room, listening to the sirens outside.
“It's pretty chaotic at the moment,” he said. “No warnings have been given, we were just told to stay inside.”
Mr Hawker said he and his wife were now deciding what to do with the rest of their trip.
“We are meant to leave for Italy tomorrow,” he said.
Newcastle man describes scene after Bastille Day attack in Nice, France
A Newcastle man holidaying in Nice has described how he and a friend narrowly avoided the carnage as a truck drove into a crowd and killed at least 77 people.
Nick Davies and Hannah Garrick, from the Sunshine Coast, had been watching Bastille Day fireworks on the beachside promenade metres from where the truck was eventually stopped.
“We were celebrating at the fireworks display after eating dinner, standing across the road from the Hard Rock Cafe,” Mr Davies said. READ MORE
Tamworth woman Hannah Ellison speaks from Nice
Hannah Ellison has spoken to The Leader about her fears, after she was with a tour group hit by a truck in Nice, France, during Bastille Day celebrations.
Miss Ellison said they her Top Deck group was walking along the promenade, which is along the beach, and her group were the first people hit.
"Thankfully none of my group was severely injured but about two minutes after the fireworks stopped, because it was Bastille day, it came ploughing through," she said, in an interview with The Leader in the early hours of the morning in Nice.
"I was very, very lucky I wasn't hit, we had just come back from a quick trip to Monaco to visit the Grand Casino and we decided to walk along promenade to view the fireworks. I wasn't injured, one girl was hospitalised but she wasn't seriously hurt." READ MORE
