Cal student missing, three injured after Nice attack

Three University of California at Berkeley students were injured and one remains missing after an attack Thursday night in Nice, France, university officials said Friday.

College of Natural Resources junior Nicolas Leslie, 20, is still missing after a truck barreled through a crowd of people watching a fireworks display local time as part of Bastille Day, or France’s independence day, on a promenade in Nice.

Friends of Leslie said he escaped injury, but university spokeswoman Claire Holmes said she will not confirm that until he is found.

University officials have been in touch with Leslie’s family to help find him and bring him home, Holmes said. Leslie’s Facebook page says he lives in Del Mar, California, and is from Milan, Italy.

Two other students suffered broken legs and another a broken foot in the attack, which follows the death of UC Berkeley sophomore Tarishi Jain in a terror attack by Islamic militants in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 1.

Leslie was one of 85 UC Berkeley students studying near Nice in a 15-day program called Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Europe, which is part of the International European Innovation Academy, according to university officials.

Studying has been suspended as part of the three-day mourning period in France.

University officials are offering to bring any students home if they want to come before the program ends July 24. So far, three students have chosen to come back to the U.S.

University Vice Provost Cathy Koshland and Dean of Students Joseph Defraine Greenwell expressed their sympathy to all students and families and the French community affected by the violence.

The attack killed at least 84 and injured more than 200.

Two of Leslie’s friends had this to say on Facebook: “Nick Leslie is missing in Nice, France,” John Philip Josi said.

“He was not injured during the attack but we have not heard from him since then.” Another friend Abhinav Kukreja said, “Help me find my friend! Nick Leslie has been missing since last night’s terror attack. We know he successfully avoided colliding with the truck, but we lost him in the stampede and chaos that followed.”