Details have emerged of some of the 84 victims of Thursday’s attack in Nice:
Sean Copeland (51) and son Brodie (11) from Lakeway, near Austin, Texas
Sean Copeland was an executive for the software company Lexmark Corporation, and a baseball coach; Brodie played youth baseball. The father and son were on a European family holiday that started in Pamplona and took in Barcelona before reaching Nice.
“We are heartbroken and in shock over the loss of Brodie Copeland, an amazing son and brother who lit up our lives, and Sean Copeland, a wonderful husband and father,” the family said in a statement. “They are so loved.”
The Hill Country baseball club posted a tribute on Facebook with a photograph of Brodie, said to have been taken earlier that day on the French riviera.
The holiday coincided with a relative's birthday. Haley Copeland, a family member, wrote on Facebook. "Losing a loved one is hard no matter the circumstances but losing a loved one in such a tragic and unexpected way is unbearable," she wrote. Another relative, Heather Copeland, wrote: "I don't even know how to put this into words."
“Today was a very [tragic] day for my family,” she added.
Robert Marchand (60), from Marcigny, France
Marchand worked as a supervisor at a company in the small rural town of Marcigny in eastern France. He was also a president and coach of the athletics club. Louis Poncet, Marcigny's mayor, confirmed Marchand's death, describing him as a very dedicated, passionate man "who had advanced the athletics club to the highest level".
According to Le Journal de Saone-et-Loire, he was married and had a daughter. It reported he was part of a group of members of the Marcigny athletic club due to attend a meeting in Monaco, 15 miles away from Nice, yesterday.
Viktoria Savchenko (21), student from Russia
Savchenko was studying at the Moscow-based Academy of Finance, which confirmed she had died in the attack.
According to the RIA Novosti news agency, she was with friend and fellow student Polina Serebryannikova (22) when the truck crashed into them, the Moscow Times reported. Serebryannikova sustained leg injuries and was taken to hospital.
Linda Casanova (54) from Agno Ticino, Switzerland
Casanova, from the Italian-speaking Swiss region, was confirmed as among the dead by her brother, Ivano Casanova. Linda, a customs inspector, was on holiday with her French husband Gilles, according to Corriere de Ticino. Ivano told the website Gilles was not injured.
Fatima Charrihi (60), a Moroccan living in France
Charrihi was described by one of her seven children, Hamza, 28, as “extraordinary”. He told L’Express: “She was the first victim. My brother tried to resuscitate her, but doctors told us she died on the spot”.
Hamza added that she wore the veil and practised “a true Islam - not the ‘Islam’ of the terrorists”. She had been at the seafront celebrations with her nephews and nieces. He held up her resident’s card for journalists as he paid tribute outside a Nice hospital.
Michael Pellegrini (28); his mother Veronique Lion (55); and grandparents Francis and Christiane Locatelli (82 and 78); all from Herserange, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France
The four family members lived in Herserange, a village near Longwy. Pellegrini, a professor of economics at the private Lycée des Récollets in nearby Longwy, and his mother, a kindergarten assistant, were on holiday with his grandparents and had been looking forward to the Bastille Day fireworks. All died in the truck attack, according to local media.
“I recruited him two years ago . . . he was very dynamic,” the head of the lycee in Longwy Bas told Le Republicain Lorrain of Pellegrini. The village of Herserange was reported to be in shock.
– (Guardian service)