Three Italians injured in Nice attack

(ANSA) - Rome, July 15 - Italian foreign ministry sources said Friday three Italians were injured in last night's terror attack in Nice, two of them critically. A Cuneo-area man was in critical condition after the killing spree in which a gun-toting French-Tunisian truck driver ploughed through crowds watching Bastille Day fireworks for about two kms before being shot dead by police. Relatives of Andrea Avagnina, 53, a town councillor at San Michele Mondovì near Cuneo, found him at Nice's Pasteur Hospital following the attack that killed at least 84 people - including 10 children and teens - in the French Riviera town.
    His wife Marinella Ravotti, 55, who works at the local health agency in Mondovì, is missing. The couple was on vacation in the southern French city, where they own a home. "I'm in touch with the foreign ministry crisis unit," said San Michele Mondovì Mayor Domenico Michelotti. "We beg anyone with news to contact the authorities".
    As well, Italian couple Angelo D'Agostino, 71, and Gianna Muset, 68, became unreachable after 21:55 last night. "We're desperate," the couple's daughter-in-law, who is married to the couple's son Massimiliano, told ANSA. "D'Agostino is 1.70 meters tall, weighs about 70 kilos, has white hair and was wearing blue jeans and a blue T-shirt". D'Agostino and his wife were celebrating his retirement with a trip to the Cote d'Azur. The family is from the town of Voghera in Pavia province. Many Italians either lost their cellphones or didn't go home or to their hotels after the attack, Italian Nice Consul-General Serena Lippi told ANSA Friday. "We can't trace many Italians, who are therefore classified as missing," she said, while calling for "calm". She said "we are working closely with the Italian foreign ministry in Rome and the Italian ambassador (Giandomenico Magliano) is on his way from Paris".
    Lippi later confirmed to ANSA that no Italian children were killed or injured.
    So far the official tally is of 202 wounded, 52 of them critical.
    Back in Italy, security at Rome's Fiumicino airport remained high and security was beefed up at the Ventimiglia border post with France. "We have heard that fugitives could be heading into Italy, although for now there is no concrete evidence," a police official said.