Victims of Nice terrorist truck attack receive €37m

On 14 July 2016, a man drove a truck into crowds who were celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 people and injuring more than 400 others.

The Guarantee Fund for victims of terrorism and other criminal acts has confirmed paying out compensation. Its managing director Julien Rencki told local newspaper Nice Matin: “We have started to indemnify 2315 direct victims and relatives of people who died.

“To this day, we have paid out €37m. But this is mainly provisions. The biggest part is still to come, once the consequences have stabilised.”

Under French law, victims have 10 years to claim compensation. The Fund estimates total compensation will be €300m (£270m).

The Guarantee Fund is funded through a levy on French property insurance policies. That ‘attack tax’ was raised from €4.30 to €5.90 (from £3.8 to £5.2) on 1 January 2017, following deadly attacks in Paris in 2015 and Nice in 2016.

Rencki told Nice Matin there is “no reason to worry” about the fund’s capacity to compensate victims of terrorism: “We have €1.7bn in reserves.”