A former Prince George resident was in the vicinity of Thursday's terrorist attack in Nice, France, but was unharmed.
Miguel Mori, a previous percussionist with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra who now lives in Calgary, was out with his classmates from the European Innovation Academy, a high-tech business accelerator program. They went down to the waterfront to take in the Bastille Day holiday festivities. He had been walking on the same beachfront promenade only moments before the bloodshed.
They were admiring the fireworks show. It was about 11:30 p.m. local time.
"Near the end (we heard) some weird noises but we weren't sure what was happening as we were much farther down the beach," Mori said. "Ambulances and cop cars started streaming in and covered the promenade. We were told to evacuate the beach by random people walking by. As we approached the promenade, a stream of people were walking with tears in their eyes. One of our group members ran toward the first ambulance until he saw black body bags being dragged away and every other person way bawling uncontrollably."
The death toll was already past 70 people as Mori spoke to The Citizen via Facebook.
"I watched a video from an iPhone of bodies lying everywhere in the road," said Mori. He was anxiously awaiting news on his 500 classmates from all over the world who had converged in Nice for their two-week intensive education program.
"We were all called back to residence where we learned some fellow students were around or maybe hurt in the attack," Mori said. "We are still missing two of our friends from Estonia. One may be in the hospital. Trying to locate all the students still. All students from the University of Calgary are accounted for. Two are still trapped downtown finding a way back. Edmonton students hear they may have a fatality in their group, but I can't confirm."
