Prime Minister John Key addresses the media, calling the attacks in Paris 'heinous' and saying "It's a tragic day for the people of France".
• At least 150 dead in series of terror attacks • Islamic State reportedly claims responsibility • Six attack sites, including concert hall where 112 hostages killed • Concert survivor: Gunmen 'were shooting us like we were birds' • Explosions outside Stade de France during international football match • State of emergency declared by France President Francois Hollande • Military deployed around Paris after unprecedented attacks • Hollande says he will close borders
New Zealanders in Paris have described the horror and confusion as dozens of people were massacred in multiple attacks.
France has closed its borders and declared a nationwide state of emergency for the first time since World War II after suspected terrorist attacks ripped through the country's capital.
New Zealanders studying, working and playing sport in France have voiced their concerns and condolences in the wake of the attacks.
Taxis were turning off their meters to help move people around Paris with the Metro underground rail system being shut down.
And Parisians were opening their doors to people who couldn't get home, spreading the word on social media.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed the number of Kiwis registered as being in France has risen in the past few hours from 249 to 279.
A safe travel alert issued by MFAT this afternoon has since been reviewed but is unchanged, a spokesman said.
KIWI WAS NEARLY AT RESTAURANT
Emma Ogilvie, a Kiwi woman living in Paris told ONE News she and a friend were thinking about going to Le Petit Cambodge when she got a message about the attack.
She described hearing ambulances and seeing people running in the streets.
"We were quite freaked out and started to rush back home pretty quickly. I walked back home, all along the way people were saying hurry up, get back inside so it's pretty freaky," she said in a skype interview.
Ms Ogilvie said a friend of a friend was at the restaurant and had hid under a table.
"There were just pieces of people everywhere and a child on the floor so it's just quite shocking and um I'm just hoping that as many people are as safe as possible that were there."
"PEOPLE WERE RUNNING UP THE ESCALATORS"
Ruby Black, 24, told Radio New Zealand she was at the Gare du Nord train station when she noticed people looking at their phones - before sprinting for their lives.
"I've never been in a sitation before where you actually see people running for their lives - people not even noticing you when they run past because of the terror on their face,'' she told the station.
"People were running up the escalators that were going down.''
Ms Black's mother, Paris-based artist Tracey Tawhiao, told Maori TV her daughter said a man approached her on the train and warned her not to get on the metro as there were explosives nearby.
"She told me to meet her across the road. As soon as we found each other, we hugged, kissed and ran away.''
NZ COUPLE NEARBY - 'PEOPLE JUST STARTED TO PANIC'
New Zealand couple Nick Holden and Jane Man were dining at Au Passage, just around the corner from the Bataclan, when they alerted to the crisis unfolding in the city.
"We were eating dinner at a restaurant in the 3rd.. and a waitress told us she had seen someone shot who she thought was by a terrorist and she was obviously very upset.
"We have been in situations like this in the past so we decided we should probably leave the restaurant and so we left but as we decided to leave it was clear there was a much bigger story going on," he said.
"People said we should move in a certain direction so we left the restaurant and headed south and as we started to walk the police sirens got louder and we heard a lot of whistles directing people to move in a certain way."
Nick Holden and Jane Man: the couple were eating dinner when a waitress told them she had seen someone shot. Photo / Supplied
The duo said panicked people began running away from the Place de la Republique, a square in Paris located near the Bataclan.
"We stopped and we looked up towards [the square] and we kind of stopped for a while ... and we thought everything had died down but then people just started to panic," Holden said.
"From the cafe that was beside us people jumped up and literally just ran from their tables so we ran away as well."
Holden, who was holidaying in Paris, described the initial situation was "strangely calm" but waves of panic began "coming over Paris".
"This was very relaxed. There wasn't any urgency to it. But as we walked away, you would walk 200m people were calm and seemed to have no idea what was going on but then two minutes later it would be panic and people would start to run ... so there was this kind of slowly forming panic coming over Paris," he said. "It wasn't scary in that there as imminent danger but it was scary in that it was confusing."
A Wellington man Patrick Whatman, who lives near the Bataclan in Paris, said he had been at a pub watching the France vs Germany game when he was alerted to the terror attacks by his partner.
"My partner called to say that a shooting had taken place near Place de la Republique, and that perhaps I should avoid the metro home. At that point it was believed that four people had been killed, and several more wounded. I caught a cab from the Trocadero.
"The taxi driver told me that the radio was saying that 18 people had been killed. By the time we reached Place de la Bastille, the reports were as high as 40 dead. The taxi was diverted by a police officer standing in the middle of Boulevard Richard Lenoir, waving a pistol and telling us to leave this street, the Bataclan was right around the corner," he said.
"I arrived home and settled in to watch the BBC with my partner. Not long after, loud explosions could be heard. Based on the TV reports, these were probably the police blasting their way into the Bataclan. Unfortunately, it sounds like they were too late for an enormous number of people."
Whatman said he was amazed by the "lack of panic amongst people on the street."
"It is now 2am, and our neighbourhood is uncharacteristically quiet. Usually, rowdy bar patrons line the footpaths smoking - it is France, after all. Aside from sirens, there is no noise at all," he said.
KIWI MISSED OUT ON METAL CONCERT
An ex-pat Kiwi has revealed he came close to securing tickets to a concert where a death metal band and audience were held hostage and many concertgoers slaughtered.
Food travel guide writer Nicholas Holden said he was at a bar earlier in the evening and drank alongside the drummer of The Eagles of Death Metal band.
"He told the bartender he had come to this bar six months ago on his honeymoon.
"He was now touring with a band around Europe and the band was playing at Bataclan.
He offered the bar tender tickets and I thought for a split second for asking him for tickets but we (wife Jane Man) had to go and eat at a restaurant so I didn't ask him."
Holden said he was struggling to come to terms with a surreal encounter that could have resulted in a dire outcome.
"I can't bear thinking about it at this point," said Holden.
"The consequences of had I asked and had the two of us gone along, what could have happened is not something that I would like to think about."
He said he was initially concerned about the wellbeing of the band members but relieved to find they had escaped unscathed.
Holden was now holed up in an apartment and unsure about plans for coming days before returning to London.
KIWI - 'I'M JUST TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO GET HOME'
Apoorva Kolluru, a New Zealander in Paris, heard two of the shootings, one of which happened near her apartment. She said she was safe, but couldn't get home.
"It's pretty scary. I'm just trying to find a way to get home now."
Ms Kolluru was near the Petit Cambodge restaurant attack, and lived in the 11th Arrondisement, near Boulevard Voltaire.
"There've been several shootings around the city. There was one close to where I was having dinner, and then while I was walking home, one close to where I live," Ms Kolluru added.
"Immediately everybody hoped that it was a car backfiring, or fireworks or something. But it turned out that there were shootings...they kicked everyone out of the restaurant."
She arrived in Paris on an exchange on August.
Police officers man a position close to the Bataclan theatre. Photo / Getty Images
Ms Kolluru, of Auckland, planned to use the Twitter hashtag "porteouverte" which meant "open door" in French.
In the wake of the deadly killings, the gesture spreading on social media aimed to give stranded people a place to stay for the night.
"Every way for me to get home at the moment is blocked off or seems really unsafe by what I've read on the news."
Sirens could be heard in the background as Ms Kolluru explained the situation. "There's a lot of ambulances and police at the moment," she told NZME News Service.
She said the situation had calmed down slightly from an hour earlier. "There was a lot of people running around and a lot of people screaming."
Ms Kolluru was staying in an apartment with other New Zealanders. She understood all her friends in Paris were safe, based on texts she'd received. "People are just a bit worried about me now...I'm just figuring out how to get somewhere."
Ms Kolluru said her neighbourhood was filled with other students and young people, and the area was a popular nightspot.
One of France's honorary consuls in New Zealand, Martine Marshall-Durieux, said the French community here had taken to Facebook to seek news about loved ones in Paris.
"The power of Facebook is quite amazing. You can straight away be in touch with your family and friends."
She said the attack on Paris was shocking but other terror attacks had dulled the feeling of surprise.
"With everything that has happened around the world, you're not safe anywhere, whether it is London or New York or Paris. It's a big city. How can you keep people safe?"
She was alerted to the attack by phone this morning and had been fixed to online news updates since.
Christchurch-based Ms Martine Marshall-Durieux, who'd lived in New Zealand for about 40 years, said there were about 400 French people registered as living in the Canterbury area alone.
All Black Dan Carter had planned on moving to Paris next week after signing a three-year deal with French club Racing 92.
His agent Dean Hegan said Carter told him it was too early to know if his departure would be delayed.
"He's not making any decision till the facts are a little clearer. His thoughts are with the people of Paris."
Carter's father Neville said his son planned to fly out of New Zealand on Thursday afternoon. Carter's wife, Honor, and sons, two-and-a-half-year-old Marco and seven-month-old Fox, would travel with him.
"I think they're going to have a couple of days holidays on the way. That might be a blessing."
All Black great Bryan Williams told The New Zealand Herald he was concerned for his rugby-playing son Paul's family.
Paul Williams was signed to Paris-based team Stade Francais.
While Paul and his team-mates were in the UK for a clash with English side Leicester, no one had been able to contact his wife in the French capital. The couple also have a young child.
"He will be really worried," Bryan Williams said.
"Where they live appears to be away from the trouble area, but with all the outbreaks you can't be sure.
"They closed the border now, so he won't be able to get back."
Paris-based former All Black Joe Rokocoko, set to link with Dan Carter with Racing 92, has tweeted: "Prayers to those people in Paris and their families at this moment & courage to the Raid special force who took us for preseason this year."
Former All Black Chris Masoe also lives in Paris, where he plays for French club Racing 92. He and wife Gemma couldn't be contacted, but Gemma Masoe's father Peter Tennent said he had spoken to the couple following the attacks.
"They're ok. They're shocked and upset, no different than the rest of us. [They said] 'Paris is many times the size of New Zealand, so settle down mum and dad, we're fine'."
He had suggested they might want to leave the city, but they were staying put, Tennent said.
"Their home is in Paris."
Glasgow Warriors - scheduled to play Racing 92 in Paris tomorrow - has tweeted: "Devastating news in Paris this evening. Hope all our supporters are safe. Our thoughts go out to everyone affected."
POLITICIANS VOICE CONCERNS
Prime Minister John Key has said New Zealand "stands with France in the global fight against terror".
"Our hearts go out to those involved and our thoughts with them and their families," he said.
Labour Party leader Andrew Little also voiced his concerns about the "tragic news" from Paris today.
Mr Little said on Twitter his thoughts were "with those whose lives have been lost and families of those caught up in the events."
'MAJOR DISRUPTIONS' EXPECTED FOR TRAVELLERS
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) said its travel risk advisory for France was unchanged since it was last reviewed in July.
Mfat said there was some risk to security in France due to "the ongoing threat from terrorism and we advise caution".
"Terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq continue to plan attacks against the West and domestic threats also remain.
"Some plots are likely to involve foreign fighters returning to France and Europe from conflicts in these countries. French authorities continue to make arrests of terrorism suspects and have recommended heightened vigilance due to the ongoing risk," the advisory added.
"New Zealanders in France, as in the rest of Europe, are advised to be security-conscious at all times, particularly in public places, and to stay informed of potential risks to safety and security by monitoring the media. Previous terrorist incidents have targeted public transport and popular tourist sites and shopping areas."
Kiwis travelling in and out of France were expected to face major disruptions.
House of Travel said it had about 200 customers either leaving for France or heading back from the country.
Brent Thomas, House of Travel's commercial director, said Kiwis in Paris should register with the New Zealand Embassy and keep in contact with airlines and travel agents about changes to travel plans.
He said Kiwis travelling to France from New Zealand over the next few days would probably be offered alternative itineraries.
"Thankfully it is the low season so we do not have too many people going back and forward to Paris at the moment," Mr Thomas said.
"If people are planning to travel to France today and that is not possible, they would clearly have to rethink their accommodation and contact their travel insurers about alternative arrangements."
Andrew Olsen, chief executive of the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand, said the situation in Paris was "ugly".
"Kiwis over there should be checking in with their consulates and letting them know where they are," he said.
"Anyone who hasn't yet departed for France from New Zealand should check with their travel agent about their terms and conditions and what alternative arrangements may have to be made to their travel plans and accommodation."
Reporters: Russell Blackstock, Cherie Howie, Regan Schoultz, John Weekes
