Nice Attack And Eiffel Tower Fire Not Connected

Update: According to the latest reports, at least 84 people were killed in the attack in Nice, France, and over 180 are injured. Of the wounded, François Hollande, the president of France, said on Friday there are 50 victims “in between life and death." After an emergency meeting of French security and defense officials, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said: "Terrorism is a threat that weighs heavily upon France and will continue to weigh for a long time. We are facing a war that terrorism has brought to us." Among the victims, who were celebrating the French holiday of Bastille Day, were a number of tourists, including two Americans, Sean Copelend and his 11-year-old son, Brodie. To help victims of the Bastille Day attack, you can contribute to verified fundraisers or donate blood.

Update 2: Early Saturday morning, ISIS released a statement announcing that one of their "soldiers" had carried out the attack. CNN reports that the statement read, in part: "The person who carried out the run over in Nice, France, is one of the Islamic State soldiers and carried out the operation in response to calls to target nationals of the coalition which is fighting the Islamic State."

Earlier: A truck drove through crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, on Thursday evening, killing as many as 77 people and injuring 50 others, New York Daily News reported. At the same time, a fire near the Eiffel Tower erupted. But were the Nice attack and Eiffel Tower fire related? It's coincidental that the two horrific events happened at nearly the exact same time.

Officials have said the Bastille Day crash was an attack deliberately planned on festival-goers, and these photos from the Bastille Day attack reveal the sobering moment when celebration turned to tragedy. However, the fire at the Eiffel Tower seemed to be less deliberate than the truck that plowed through the Bastille Day festivities.

The Nice attack and Eiffel Tower fire were eerily similar in that they both happened at nearly the same time and both involved trucks. A truck that was reportedly carrying fireworks caught fire as it passed the Eiffel Tower, thus causing a prominent fire at the Pont d'Iéna bridge just over the River Seine, according to a tweet from the Paris Police Prefecture. The Paris Police Prefecture advised people to avoid the area, even though the fire was deemed a "technical incident."

The video above shows the Eiffel Tower fire just following the Nice attack in the south of France. The fire was a serious threat, no doubt, but it was unrelated to the Bastille Day attacks. The Paris Police Prefecture released a statement on Twitter that, according to its translation, said, "Don't spread false rumours. No fire to the Eiffel Tower."

It's just a coincidence that these two incidents happened around the same time on Thursday evening. The horrific, senseless attacks in Nice left countless innocent people dead and injured, and the death toll is expected to rise. In the wake of this attack on Bastille Day, France's independence day, numerous people shared "Pray for Nice" memes and tributes on social media to show their solidarity with the victims and those involved.