Australia lucky again in Nice: ambassador

Two young Australians in hospital following the Nice terror attack are "doing OK", Australia's ambassador to France says.

Roses are attached at a barrier in Nice

Two young Australians in hospital following the Nice attack are "doing OK", officials says. (AAP)

Australia has again been fortunate not to have citizens killed or badly injured in a terror attack in France given the number who are in the country, Canberra's ambassador in Paris says.

Stephen Brady says five young Australians were injured in Thursday night's attack in which a 31-year-old French-Tunisian national ploughed a truck through crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the waterfront at Nice in southern France.

"It's the equivalent of driving at high speed on the promenade of Bondi Beach on New Year's Eve," the ambassador said.

The Nice attack killed 84 people, including at least 10 children, and left 188 injured, including 25 in a critical condition.

Mr Brady said an Australian man and a woman, both in their early 20s, remained in hospital in satisfactory conditions and were "both doing OK".

Another young woman was discharged from hospital earlier on Friday and two others suffered minor injuries.

It was not clear exactly how the five, understood to be on a Topdeck tour, sustained their injuries as the attack unfolded and thousands of panicked revellers fled the danger.

"We were very lucky because a lot of Australians now use Nice as their point of entry into France," Mr Brady said, noting that the death toll included three Germans, two Americans, a Swiss and a Russian.

Last November 13 Islamic State militants killed 130 people in Paris, the bloodiest in several attacks in France and Belgium in the past two years.

One young Australian woman was injured in the Paris attack.

"I'm just thankful Australians have been accounted for," Mr Brady said of the latest attack.

"Yet again we've been rather fortunate, with the sheer number of Australians who would be in France on any one day.

"We are advising Australians coming to France to exercise a high degree of caution," the ambassador said.

He noted President Francois Hollande told the French people on Friday they could expect further terror attacks.

"The wantonness of it, the sheer evil has left the French public angry, a bit bewildered, but they have to take in their president's real message and that's that there will be other attacks."

Next week at Fromelles and Pozieres in northern France many Australians are expected at the centenary commemorations of World War I battles in which thousands of Australians fought and died.

Mr Brady said that following the Nice attack, embassy staff had been in touch with French authorities regarding security at those events and "had been assured that the right resources required will be deployed".


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Source: AAP


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Australia lucky again in Nice: ambassador | SBS News