Five friends celebrating graduation anniversary among New York terror attack victims
Five Argentines and a Belgian were among the eight people killed in the New York terror attack on Tuesday.
A pickup driver mowed down pedestrians and cyclists near the World Trace Center memorial in the worst act of terrorism on New York since September 11, 2001. Eleven others were seriously injured.
Argentina's Foreign Ministry confirmed five Argentine citizens had died in the attack.
It named them as Hernán Diego Mendoza, Diego Enrique Angelini, Alejandro Damián Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij, and Hernán Ferruchi.
New York terror attack, in pictures
The statement said the victims, from the city of Rosario, were part of a group of friends celebrating the 30th anniversary of their graduation from the polytechnic school of that city.
According to reports in Argentina, the five victims were part of a group of 10 people. Of them, four were unharmed and communicated with their families in the aftermath of the attack.
Argentina's consul in New York, Mateo Estreme, told La Capital in Rosario that the four survivors in the Argentine group are in a state of shock. Only days earlier, before flying to the US, they had posed for a group photo, all of them wearing T-shirts with the word "Libre," or Free.
One of the members of the group - Ariel Erlij - paid for the trip for two of his former classmates, who could not afford the cost of the tickets, reports said.
It said the Argentine government was "deeply shocked" by what happened and "Argentina reaffirms its strongest condemnation of terrorist acts and violence in all its manifestations and reiterates the need to deepen the fight against this scourge".
Didier Reynders, Belgium's foreign minister, said a Belgian national was among the people killed.
"I am deeply saddened to announce a Belgian victim in Manhattan - I express my condolences to the family and friends," Mr Reynders said on Twitter.
"My thoughts are with the victims of the attack in New York," he said.
He later said three Belgian nationals had been injured and were being treated in hospital.
Reynders told the Belga news agency that "it was a woman from Roulers in western Flanders who was on a city trip with with her sister and her mother" in New York.
President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: "Looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!"
He blamed the attack on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant which has encouraged its followers to use vehicles to mow people down. The UK, France and Germany have all seen deadly vehicle attacks in the recent past.
