A local restaurant owner has described his terror as he and his family fled the devastation of Thursday night’s truck attack in Nice.

Chef Jean-Claude Garzia, who owns Beau Rivage, was on holiday when he found himself in the middle of a “massacre” that claimed scores of lives.

More than 80 people, including children, died when a truck driven by Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel careered into crowds gathered in the southern French city for Bastille Day celebrations, in what political figures have described as a terror attack.

Mr Garzia, who moved to Bermuda in 1981, spoke to The Royal Gazette from Nice yesterday and described his “panic and fear” as police fired shots at the truck to bring the bloody rampage to an end.

“It was terrible. It was brutal. I don’t have the words to describe it,” he said. “The truck just drove right at the people and there were bodies flying everywhere.

“I was watching the fireworks with my sisters, nieces and nephews and we heard shots that were different from the fireworks.

“Then we heard screaming and people started shouting ‘run, run, it’s an attack’. I could see the truck about 100 yards from us but we just kept running. Some people jumped in the sea, some people jumped over fences. It was total panic.

“I have never seen something like that. There were bodies everywhere. The memories are still in my head. It was a massacre.”

Mr Garzia described the city as “empty and quiet” the day after the attack.

“There are barricades around Nice. No one is going into the city. The shops are all closed. It is a very strange feeling,” he said.

“Everyone has taken the highway around the city. The police and the army are here now. I will be very happy to be back in Bermuda on Wednesday.”

Last night, his wife Veronique told The Royal Gazette that she had spoken to her husband on the phone just moments after the attack.

“He told me he had thought he was about to die and that people were running everywhere,” she said. “I did not believe what he was saying, it seemed impossible at first.”

The death toll after the attack stood at 84 last night with more than 50 others in critical care.

The Alliance Française des Bermudes group had been celebrating Bastille Day at Verdmont when news of the atrocity broke.

“Our thoughts turned quickly to the four Bermudian students who are studying in Cannes, not too far from Nice,” Marc Morabito, the group’s president, said.

“We were able to contact all four students on WhatsApp messenger chat very quickly to confirm that they were fine, which was a huge relief.

“Everyone was shocked and saddened to hear what had happened in Nice.

“It certainly put a sombre note on everything.”

The Governor, George Fergusson, who also attended the group’s Bastille Day celebrations, added: “This is an appalling and terrifying event, in a month that has already seen terrible large-scale attacks on civilians in Baghdad and Istanbul and elsewhere.

“The news from Nice burst in on this happy occasion. I was pleased to be able to express the solidarity which I know will be felt across Bermuda and my disgust at an act which so clearly runs against those French values which we and many others share and admire.”

Mr Morabito, whose cousins Jacques and Gilbert Barrichella run Barrichella’s jewellery shop in Nice just yards from where the attack took place, told The Royal Gazette he had been unable to contact his family members in the city.

“I have tried to contact my cousins but have not been able to yet,” he said.

“Their shop is just yards from the Promenade des Anglais where this attack took place.

“I know Nice very well and my mother came from Nice. I have tried to contact other family members in the city as well but am still waiting on word.

“I think that if anything would have happened to them I would have heard by now.

“If this was a terrorist attack then it is a profoundly cowardly attack on innocent people.”

French Prosecutor François Molins said no group had admitted carrying out the attack but that it bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism.

French President François Hollande said the attack was of “an undeniable terrorist nature”.

The French Consul in Bermuda also expressed horror at the Bastille Day attack.

Nicole Haziza said: “This is a horrific attack on innocents.

“Our deepest thoughts go to the victims and the families of the victims.

“More than ever, our thoughts are with our country and the values of our country — liberty, equality and fraternity.”

Yesterday, flags outside some businesses in Hamilton flew at half-mast as a tribute to the victims of the attack.

A spokeswoman for Bacardi said: “As a mark of respect for the tragic event in Nice last night, we have hoisted the Tricolour of France and the Union Jack half-mast today.

“No other flags will be raised. Our thoughts are with our French colleagues, both here and in France.”