UC Berkeley students among those injured in Nice terrorist attack
In the immediate wake of the terrorist attack in Nice, France, on July 14, three UC Berkeley students had been reported injured while one, Nicolas Leslie, remained unaccounted for.
July 15, 2016
UPDATE: 5 p.m. July 15 – A representative of the campus’s Study Abroad program is flying to Nice today to help support the students participating in a local summer entrepreneurship program, many of whom were traumatized by Thursday’s terrorist attack that left three of their classmates injured and one missing.
Junior Nicolas Leslie, 20. (Photo from Leslie’s Facebook page)
The missing student, Nicolas Leslie, 20, is the subject of an extensive search by university staff, local officials and family.
Two of the injured students were released after medical treatment and have returned to their summer dormitories in Nice. They are Vladyslav Kostiuk, 23, a senior computer science major in the College of Letters and Science, who sustained a broken leg; and Diane Huang, 20, a senior majoring in environmental economics and policy in the College of Natural Resources, who suffered a broken foot.
Daryus Medora, 21, whose leg was broken, remains in the hospital. He is an undeclared sophomore in the College of Letters and Science.
Of the 85 students enrolled in the program, four elected to leave immediately for the U.S., while three others will be leaving over the weekend. The Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Europe class is made up mostly of UC Berkeley students, though students from other UC campuses and local colleges were also enrolled through the university’s study abroad program.
Berkeley – 10: 45 a.m. – Three UC Berkeley students studying abroad in Nice, France, are known to have been injured in the terrorist attack yesterday after a truck struck hundreds of people during a fireworks display celebrating Bastille Day.
A fourth student, Nicolas Leslie, 20, one of 85 students attending a nearby entrepreneurship program through UC Berkeley’s study abroad program, is still unaccounted for. Campus study abroad, risk services office and student affairs staff are working with fellow students in France, the program director on the ground, local officials, U.S. consular officials and the family to locate him. Leslie is a junior in the College of Natural Resources.
Of the three students injured, two sustained broken legs and were being treated in the hospital, while the third had a broken foot. All of the students were attending a month-long program called Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Europe, part of the international European Innovation Academy.
The program has been suspended temporarily to commemorate a national three days of mourning in France, but will continue through its planned end date of July 24. The campus has offered to bring home any students who wish to leave the program before its end date, and so far, three students have chosen to do so and return home to the U.S.
In a message to the campus, Vice Provost Cathy Koshland and Dean of Students Joseph Defraine Greenwell expressed their deepest sympathy to all the students, families and the French community who have been affected by this “tragic event” and “senseless violence.”
The attack, which killed at least 84 people and injured more than 200, comes on the heels of terrorist attacks in other countries that have impacted the UC Berkeley campus community. Sophomore Tarishi Jain was among 20 hostages killed by Islamic militants in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 1.