Five friends from Argentina celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation were among the eight people killed in Tuesday’s terror attack in New York.
Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the deaths of Hernán Mendoza, Diego Angelini, Alejandro Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernán Ferruchi.
The five men, all from Rosario, Argentina, died after a man drove a rental pickup truck onto a crowed bike path near the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
Almost a dozen others were wounded.
A sixth Argentine national who was part of the group was injured during the attack. He is out of danger, the ministry said, and as of Tuesday night, he was recovering at New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital.
On Twitter, Argentine President Mauricio Macri said he was “(d)eeply moved by the tragic deaths this afternoon in NY. We put ourselves at the disposition of the families of the Argentinian victims.”
The group had traveled to New York from Rosario, a city nearly 200 miles northwest of the capital of Buenos Aires. They were celebrating the 30th anniversary of their graduation from the Polytechnic School.
In a statement, the school said that it “expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the attack,” adding: “We accompany all your loved ones in their pain.”
The suspect has been identified as Sayfullo Saipov, 29, according to two law enforcement sources. He is accused of driving the truck onto the bike path, crashing it into a school bus and then stepping outside and brandishing imitation firearms.
A police officer shot him in the abdomen, and he underwent surgery at a local hospital.
On Tuesday, Didier Reynders, deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister for Belgium, said a Belgian was also among those killed in the attack.
The German Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that a German woman was among those injured.