A tourist who was in France at the time of the Nice terror attack has apologised after telling news broadcasters her shopping trip was “spoiled” by the killings.
At least 84 people have been killed in Nice, including a number of children, after a lorry ploughed through a large crowd enjoying Bastille Day celebrations.
Speaking on air to Sky News, Lucy Nesbitt-Comaskey said: “The sad thing about it, and I know this is awful and maybe a bit selfish but it did spoil our shopping trip.”
“We bought all this lovely shopping and now I can’t be bothered with it, it just doesn’t mean anything now”.
After receiving a backlash on Twitter for her shopping remarks, Ms Nesbitt-Comaskey issued an apology on Facebook, explaining that she had been “in shock” and spoke out of line.
“My sincere condolences to the French people who have lost their loved one's today in Nice,“ she said.
“I'm deeply sorry if my interview with Sky News sounded uncompassionate. I was totally distressed and shocked. My words came out wrong. Once again sorry."
Ms Nesbitt-Comaskey, who is English, said she was visiting the city with her friend and dining in a nearby restaurant during the time of the attack.
Describing the scene, she said: “It sounded like an attack in Beirut – I said to my friend, this doesn’t sound like fireworks, this sounds like Beirut when it’s under attack.”
“All of a sudden people were screaming in the street and running… everybody came into our restaurant”.
She went on: “We were literally one block away. It was shocking. It was devastating and I can’t believe I’ve come over here for a few days and I’ve got mixed up in something so tragic. It was just awful.”
The British tourist said she and her companion had considered going to see the fireworks, where the attack took place, but decided not to at the last minute, since she had “needed to go to the ladies’”.
More than a dozen were critically injured in the attack according to the latest count from the French interior ministry.
The driver of the truck, identified in French media as a 31-year-old local of Tunisian origin, is understood to have been shot dead by police at the scene.
