At this stage, "we can not describe these things as an attack, but many elements suggest that," BFMTV quoted Jean-Michel Pretre as saying.
At 22:30 Thursday night local time, a truck drove at high speed into the crowd who gathered on the promenade to watch fireworks marking July 14, the French national day, wrote Christian Estrosi, president of the region of Provence-Alpes-Cote dAzur, on Twitter.
Estrosi described the incident as "the worst Nice drama of history."
BFMTV said the truck "traveled for two kilometers ploughing people."
The driver in the incident, which was earlier reportedly described by the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes as an "attack", was neuralized and probe was launched to determine whether he acted alone, the interior ministry said.
French President Francois Hollande, who was in Avignon, was going back to Paris where he will directly go to the crisis unit at the Interior Ministry, according to Elysee.
Bernard Cazeneuve, Interior Minister, will arrive at Nice in the coming hours, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, the spokesperson of Interior Ministry, adding that there was no hostage in the incident.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
