After a suspected terror attack in France that killed at least 80 people, people around the world are turning to social media to search for friends and relatives who still have not been in contact hours later.
The missing include couples, brothers, sisters, infants, visitors from as far away as Australia, and Nice residents. No official list of the victims has been released yet, but Twitter and Facebook accounts have been set up to spread photos of the missing.
A Twitter account called Recherches Nice (@nice6recherches) has been aggregating and retweeting tweets from friends and relatives who have lost contact with individuals at the Bastille Day fireworks along the Promenade des Anglais, where a truck crashed through crowds of people.
Recherches Nice sent out its first tweet at about 1:30 AM local time, roughly three hours after the attack began. Since then, it retweeted nearly 300 tweets from individuals who lost contact with loved ones at the scene.
On Facebook, people are posting photos of missing relatives and friends on the page Solidarité Nice as well as messages of condolence.
Many of the missing being searched for on Twitter appear to be in their twenties or thirties:
Someone is looking for their grandfather:
One woman circulated photos of her best friend—the two were originally planning on attending the fireworks together, but her friend ended up going with her mother instead.
“I barely missed the attack, I’ve got goosebumps all over me” she tweeted. She later learned her friend and her friend’s mother took refuge safely in a hotel.
The hashtags #AttentantNice and #JeSuisNice to show solidarity for the victims, and #PortesOuvertesNice (“Open Doors Nice”) to offer shelter for those who might need it.
Selina Cheng contributed to this piece.