The deadly vehicle attack in Barcelona sent a wave of panic though the busy Las Ramblas promenade where scores of tourists had gathered for a day of leisure in the warm Spanish sun.

A white van drove onto the sidewalk and began swerving into the crowd on Thursday afternoon. Spanish authorities said it appeared as though the attack was meant to kill as many as possible.

CTV News spoke to three Canadians who witnessed the violence that has so far claimed the lives of 13 people and injured approximately 120 more. This is what they remember:

Alisah Norris, visiting from Surrey, B.C.

“People are screaming. People are running. I heard a scream, and I kind of quickly glanced over my shoulder. I just saw white. I could hear people getting hit by the vehicle. I just looked forward and ran as fast as I could. I can’t believe it. It’s (like) something that I saw on the news. I never in my life though this was an experience I was going to have.”

Ryan Kubeska, visiting from Vancouver

“(It was) chaos. Everybody was running and trying to hail cabs, but the taxis were all full. A lot of people were panicking and crying.”

Vince Loyola from Victoria, currently living in Barcelona

“Everybody was advised to go home, stay inside. So all the businesses are shut down. Usually this would be full of people.”

Daniela Gray, visiting from Toronto

“I had just sat down at the restaurant we were eating at. It’s wasn’t thirty seconds after that I heard a huge crash into the restaurant. It was the window shattering completely with the stream of people just flooding through it. We all just ran for our lives.”

Allan Gray, visiting from Toronto

“I just wanted to protect the family and anybody around us. We ran to the back (of the restaurant). I asked the manager. I said, ‘You need to open up the back door.’ So he ended up opening the back door. We fled out there, went to the hotel area. Then we actually went upstairs. Then I was able to look outside to see what was going on. All I could see was people on the street dead basically, and people hurt. It was an awful thing to see.”

DeInnis Gray, visiting from Toronto

People were crying. People were vomiting. We were all trying to cry with each other and hug each other because we were so terrified. There were so many people just like us there. That’s what hit us the most. We were there just one minute before. We were saved just because we were hungry.