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French nurses tell of aftermath of lorry attack

French president François Hollande praised 'exemplary' healthcare staff.
François Hollande at Pasteur Hospital, Nice

French president François Hollande has paid tribute to nurses and other healthcare workers who have been 'working around the clock, through the night' treating victims of the Nice lorry attack.

Some 84 people are confirmed dead and another 50 people injured in the Bastille Day attack are 'between life and death', according to president Hollande.

Eyewitnesses said the attacker – reported to be 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a man of French-Tunisian origin – swerved from side to side to kill as many people as possible as he drove for a mile along the Promenade des Anglais on the seafront of the city on the French Riviera.

Emergency situation

Health workers have described the scenes in hospitals in the aftermath of Thursday night's attack.

One nurse told the Reuters news agency that staff at the city’s Pasteur Hospital were so busy they didn’t have time to take down injured people’s names, instead assigning them a number.

A spokesperson for the Lenval Paediatric Hospital told how some nurses were having to treat injured children who were related or known to them.

‘Hospital staff came in the middle of the night to save lives,’ president Hollande said.

‘Their service was exemplary.’

Prime minister's response

Prime minister Theresa May condemned the ‘horrifying’ attack, while police forces across England and Wales have been told to review security at major events over the next week.

A government spokesman said a small number of British nationals had been injured, but that the situation may change.

Meanwhile, UK nurses have taken to Twitter in support of the victims and healthcare colleagues in France.

Sue Crocombe, an ICU nurse from Dorset, said: 'Thinking of French doctors and fellow nurses who will be working to give victims the best chance.'

Unison head of health Christina McAnea said: 'Terrible tragedy in Nice – paramedics, nurses, doctors and other emergency staff responding magnificently. Thoughts are with everyone affected.'

France has declared three days of national mourning following the atrocity, which comes after attacks in Paris in November 2015, in which 130 died, and in January 2015 that killed 17.

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