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Chabad Camp Counselors Narrowly Escape Nice Terror — 2 Sisters Critically Injured

Police officers, firefighters and rescue workers are seen at the site of a terror attack in Nice, France on July 15, 2016. Image by Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten July 15, 2016

A group of Chabad camp counselors narrowly escaped Thursday’s terror attack in Nice, France, as six Jews were reported missing or injured.

Two Jewish sisters were injured in the attack. Clara Bensimon, 80 and Raymonde Mamane, 77, were in critical condition and on respirators in a local hospital Friday, according to the Times of Israel.

Staff of Chabad’s Gan Israel day camp were at the scene of the terror attack just moments before a truck driver plowed into the crowd, killing 84, according to Chabad.org.

The group escaped harm when they crossed the street right before the carnage.

“They had to run from the truck. It was just a few feet away from them,” said Rabbi Yossef Yitschok Pinson, director of the local Chabad.

Six Jews were reported to be among those missing or injured in the attack.

Chabad.org listed four of the Jews by their Hebrew names and names of their mother (as is the custom when one is praying for someone who is sick): Axel ben Yael, Moshe ben Yaakov,Clara bat Nouna and Yonathan ben Zuzy.

Also among the injured or missing Jews were John Dray and Dominique Azan, according to the site.

Contact Josefin Dolsten at [email protected] or on Twitter, @JosefinDolsten

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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