Europe 1 with AFP 7:41 p.m., April 4, 2024
A lifeless body was discovered Thursday in a river in Moncoutant-sur-Sèvre, a commune in Deux-Sèvres where a student had disappeared in February after a nightclub outing, announced the Niort prosecutor's office.
The body was discovered by a fisherman "shortly after 4:15 p.m." in an arm of the Nantes Sèvre, said Julien Wattebled, public prosecutor in Niort, in a press release. The magistrate has opened an investigation into the causes of death and plans to say more in the evening "after the first findings" of a forensic doctor.
Judicial investigation in progress
Erwan Blais, 18, a student at the University of Poitiers, has been missing since the night of February 10 to 11, after spending the evening with friends in a nightclub near which this river flows. A judicial investigation is underway in this case.
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According to the investigation, the young man left the establishment around 1:45 a.m. and video surveillance images revealed his presence in the parking lot later that night. His phone buzzed until 2:50 a.m. A call for witnesses was sent out after a raid that involved 120 people.
Dozens of gendarmes, including divers, dogs, a drone and a helicopter, also participated in the search in the days following the disappearance, without success.