NICE, France (AP):  The president of the Nice region says at least 70 people have died in what officials say was a deliberate attack when a truck drove into Bastille Day revelers in the resort city.

Writing online, Nice Matin journalist Damien Allemand who was at the waterside said the fireworks display had finished and the crowd had got up to leave when they heard a noise and cries.

“A fraction of a second later, an enormous white truck came along at a crazy speed, turning the wheel to mow down the maximum number of people,” he said.

“I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route. Heard noises, cries that I will never forget.”

Eric Ciotti said on BFM TV that police killed the driver “apparently after an exchange of gunfire.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “murder, attempted murder in an organized group linked to a terrorist enterprise.” The probe is being handled by France’s intelligence agency and judicial police.

European Council president Donald Tusk says it is a “tragic paradox” that the victims of the attack in Nice were celebrating “liberty, equality and fraternity’,” France’s motto, on the country’s national day.

Allemand said people took shelter in a nearby restaurant, where he continued to hear people shouting for missing family members. He ventured out and saw bodies, blood and body parts all along the road.

“This evening, it was horror,” Allemand concluded.

BREAKING: Paris prosecutor’s office opens terrorism investigation over Nice truck attack.

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 15, 2016

President Obama condemns `horrific’ truck attack in France, offers US assistance in investigation.

In the wake of the attack, republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he will postpone a scheduled announcement regarding his pick for vice president.