What started out as a much needed vacation for Mark and Jennifer Duran, of Livermore, turned into terror on the French Riviera on Thursday.
Moments after watching a fireworks show during a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France, chaos erupted.
"We were hit with a wall of thousands of people running off of the beach and had literally four seconds before we were going to be completely trampled," Jennifer Duran said.
A truck loaded with weapons and hand grenades had driven onto a sidewalk for more than a mile plowing through crowds of revelers, killing 80.
Duran said she didn’t know at first why they were running, but she knew it had to be bad.
"Everyone is in panic," she said, describing the scene. "They were literally throwing merchandise into the stores."
When she found out what happened, Duran said she cried.
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"Basically, where the truck ended is right where we were," she said. "So if that truck had exploded, I don’t know what would have happened."
Duran’s one hope is that the community will recover.
"I’m just a tourist; I get to leave," she said. "These people have to live with this forever."
The Durans' car was still parked in the middle of the crime scene in Nice, and they were unable to get to it. The couple was scheduled to come home Friday.
