BARCELONA – The decision to spend their Thursday at the beach kept a Thunder Bay couple away from a popular tourist area in Barcelona where at least 14 people were killed when a vehicle was intentionally driven into a crowd of people.
Marissa Pattison and her boyfriend Matt Migliazza are visiting the Spanish city this week and contemplated going to a street festival held mere kilometres from where the attack at the busy Las Ramblas pedestrian mall injured more than 100 people.
“We decided to skip the festival and relax on the beach for the day and had planned to go to Las Ramblas on Friday since there would be less tourists and people which probably saved our lives,” she said on Friday, less than 24 hours after incident.
Chaos struck Barcelona late Thursday afternoon when a van plowed through the pedestrian mall, with authorities investigating the incident as a potential terrorist attack. ISIS quickly claimed responsibility.
One Canadian was killed and four others were injured. The Canadian government is urging travellers to avoid the Las Ramblas area.
A second incident happened hours later in a seaside resort town about 130 kilometres away from Barcelona, where one person was killed and five suspects were shot dead by police.
Pattison said they became aware of the attack when they started receiving frantic messages from friends back home in Thunder Bay concerned about their safety. She quickly turned to social media to inform their family and friends that they were fine.
The couple went out later in the evening and she described the streets as being “empty and very quiet.”
“The people of Barcelona seem to be coming together and carrying on,” she said.
“However, the vibes are definitely eerie (Friday), and you can sense that everyone is hyper vigilant. It's almost as if every time you hear a siren or emergency vehicle or commotion your heart skips, or your stomach turns.”
Las Ramblas was reopened to the public on Friday. Pattison said the couple might go on Saturday.
