Josh Coles, owner of P.E.I. Pedicab, was in the Stade de France when suicide bombing attacks occurred at the country’s national stadium.
Coles, who reached out through social media to let family know he was safe, described the event as surreal.
“For me, it wasn’t a personal sense of danger as much as it was kind of astonishment and just a lot of uncertainty as the night went on,” he said. “I feel kind of selfish talking about what happened, because nothing really happened to me. I hope that it’s over and everyone that was injured makes it through. It’s just a shame for something like this to happen.”
The confirmed number of deaths varied throughout the weekend, with the latest reports Sunday night placing the number at 129.
It was also reported that more than 352 were injured in the attacks, 99 of those being critically injured.
Panic also gripped the city for a short time Sunday evening, when mourners fled a makeshift memorial at Place de la République after false reports of gunshots. Coles had originally flown to Paris about a month and a half ago before departing for a cycling trip through the country’s west coast and along the south.
After arriving back in Paris Friday night, Coles met with a friend before going to the soccer game.
He said many in the stadium were initially unaware of the attacks as they were happening.
“It definitely didn’t cause a panic because it’s not uncommon for people to light fireworks during soccer games,” he said. “Me and my friend kind of looked at each other and just wondered what it was.”
It wasn’t until a second explosion went off near the end of the game when people began realizing the cause of the noise.
“For the last 10 minutes of the game, people were elsewhere,” said Coles. “You could see there was kind of a buzz, you could tell people were starting to get texts from friends and family.”
Suicide bombers targeted the stadium, which was hosting an exhibition soccer game between the French and German national teams.
Around the same time, a number of gunmen opened fire on a string of cafes in the area.
The largest attack occurred shortly after the stadium bombing at the Bataclan concert hall, where a number of individuals were shot.
There were also at least another four suicide bomb attacks near the concert hall.
Coles said much of the crowd waited on the field of the stadium since certain exits were blocked.
Stadium officials also kept the crowd updated on the news in a video screen and provided updates when public transit was available
Coles and his friend were eventually able to take the metro service back to his friend’s house in the city.
He described the often crowded and bustling metro stations as seeing a limited number of travellers being corralled through by police.
While much of the public sector was closed down in France Saturday, Coles said many individuals seem to be “going along with their day.”
He is scheduled to fly back to Canada on Nov. 19 and spent much of Saturday walking through the going to a café.
“Half of the conversations you overhear are about it ... A lot of the conversations now are in relation to the whole situation in France. It’s not an isolated event this year, it’s been an ongoing thing.”
Earlier this year, Islamist gunmen killed 11 people and injured 11 more in an attack at the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. morning city and
Coles said he heard some wondering if similar attacks will continue and questioned what that will mean for individuals living in France.
“It’s a question of what’s going to happen next. Charlie Hebdo was one thing but it seems to keep getting worse,” said Coles.
“Will it keep happening or how will the city adapt? What’s going to happen in the future? I think if you heard people talking here today you’d hear a lot of that.”
Josh Coles, owner of P.E.I. Pedicab, was in the Stade de France when suicide bombing attacks occurred at the country’s national stadium.
Coles, who reached out through social media to let family know he was safe, described the event as surreal.
“For me, it wasn’t a personal sense of danger as much as it was kind of astonishment and just a lot of uncertainty as the night went on,” he said. “I feel kind of selfish talking about what happened, because nothing really happened to me. I hope that it’s over and everyone that was injured makes it through. It’s just a shame for something like this to happen.”
The confirmed number of deaths varied throughout the weekend, with the latest reports Sunday night placing the number at 129.
It was also reported that more than 352 were injured in the attacks, 99 of those being critically injured.
Panic also gripped the city for a short time Sunday evening, when mourners fled a makeshift memorial at Place de la République after false reports of gunshots. Coles had originally flown to Paris about a month and a half ago before departing for a cycling trip through the country’s west coast and along the south.
After arriving back in Paris Friday night, Coles met with a friend before going to the soccer game.
He said many in the stadium were initially unaware of the attacks as they were happening.
“It definitely didn’t cause a panic because it’s not uncommon for people to light fireworks during soccer games,” he said. “Me and my friend kind of looked at each other and just wondered what it was.”
It wasn’t until a second explosion went off near the end of the game when people began realizing the cause of the noise.
“For the last 10 minutes of the game, people were elsewhere,” said Coles. “You could see there was kind of a buzz, you could tell people were starting to get texts from friends and family.”
Suicide bombers targeted the stadium, which was hosting an exhibition soccer game between the French and German national teams.
Around the same time, a number of gunmen opened fire on a string of cafes in the area.
The largest attack occurred shortly after the stadium bombing at the Bataclan concert hall, where a number of individuals were shot.
There were also at least another four suicide bomb attacks near the concert hall.
Coles said much of the crowd waited on the field of the stadium since certain exits were blocked.
Stadium officials also kept the crowd updated on the news in a video screen and provided updates when public transit was available
Coles and his friend were eventually able to take the metro service back to his friend’s house in the city.
He described the often crowded and bustling metro stations as seeing a limited number of travellers being corralled through by police.
While much of the public sector was closed down in France Saturday, Coles said many individuals seem to be “going along with their day.”
He is scheduled to fly back to Canada on Nov. 19 and spent much of Saturday walking through the going to a café.
“Half of the conversations you overhear are about it ... A lot of the conversations now are in relation to the whole situation in France. It’s not an isolated event this year, it’s been an ongoing thing.”
Earlier this year, Islamist gunmen killed 11 people and injured 11 more in an attack at the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. morning city and
Coles said he heard some wondering if similar attacks will continue and questioned what that will mean for individuals living in France.
“It’s a question of what’s going to happen next. Charlie Hebdo was one thing but it seems to keep getting worse,” said Coles.
“Will it keep happening or how will the city adapt? What’s going to happen in the future? I think if you heard people talking here today you’d hear a lot of that.”
QUICK NOTES
1 - Death toll now stands at 129 and more than 350 were injured.
2- French police have identified a suspect as Salah Abdeslam, a 26year-old born in Brussels and he is now on the run. Police believe he carried the hostage-takers in a rented car.
3 - Police detained seven people in Belgium by Sunday, and tantalizing clues about the extent of the plot came from Baghdad, where senior Iraqi officials told the AP that France and other countries had been warned on Thursday of an imminent attack.
4 - The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Its statement mocked France’s air attacks on suspected IS targets in Syria and Iraq, and called Paris “the capital of prostitution and obscenity.”