• The video of the recovery of the lifeless body of Simon Gautier: "He had left the marked path"
  • Recovered body of the French excursionist who died in Cilento
  • Lost French tourist: solidarity race, many volunteers for Simon Gautier
  • Also planes and drones to find Simon Gautier. The mother of the missing hiker: "Help me"

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19 August 2019After the tragic conclusion of the story of Simon Gautier it is time for doubts and controversy over relief efforts. To point the finger at delays and embarrassments the friends of the young Frenchman. Doubts that the media across the Alps raise.

The recovered body
The lifeless body of Simon Gautier, the 27-year-old French hiker dispersed since 9 August in the Cilento has been recovered only today. He had been spotted yesterday evening, in a ravine between San Giovanni a Piro and the Molara beach, in the province of Salerno. The recovery operations have been rather complex due to the impervious and difficult slope to reach.



Autopsy on the body
An autopsy will be performed at the mortuary of the Sapri hospital on the body, as ordered by the prosecutor's office of Vallo della Lucania. Meanwhile, the Municipality of San Giovanni a Piro proclaimed the city mourning for the day tomorrow

He would have left the official path
Simon would have left the official path and would have walked along a path whose path was "opened" by animals. According to the first testimonies of the rescuers of the Speleological Alpine Service, this could have happened in the moments before Simone Gautier fell into the cliff. In fact, Simon would have walked along a path with very landslide terrain at the end of which there are rocks; he would climb the rock and fall from there. The rescuers who found the body of the French tourist found a completely broken and turned leg; perhaps the other one was broken. Recovery was very difficult for the landslide.

118: "If Italy had applied EU directive Simon would have been saved"
"If Italy had applied the EU directive implemented in 2009, Simon Gautier would have been immediately geo-localized, rescue very quickly, and perhaps with very different results". The complaint comes from the national president of the Italian 118 system Mario Balzanelli. "This story makes it clear that the absurd, unsustainable fact is that in Italy the 118 Operational Centers are still without the geolocation system for emergency calls, although provided for by the decree of the Ministry of Economic Development in 2009."

The doubts of the French press
The French press highlights questions on the timeliness of relief and on the effectiveness of the available means. The French press has reconstructed the entire story, starting with the dramatic phone call from Gautier - a 27-year-old student who has lived in Rome for two years for his thesis in art history - with whom he asked for help last August 9 at 9 am . He was not able, however, to provide information on its location, saying he was "in the middle of nowhere, along the coast". The French media recalled that the boy had left on August 8 from Policastro Bussentino to reach Naples on foot, pointing out that the research began in the Municipality of San Giovanni a Piro "only on Friday evening at sunset", while the first helicopter took off on 10 August. A "delay that has also raised doubts in the Italian press", writes Le Figaro quoting the newspaper La Repubblica. Another reason for bewilderment, in addition to the slowness of the rescue, was the fact that Gautier's family was notified only on 12 August, three days after his 'Sos'. Another shadowy area was the late diffusion of surveillance camera images by the Municipality of Policastro "for which one had to wait a week", adds the same French newspaper. Those images documented the student's transit while some witnesses confirmed that they had seen him on a beach on the 8th evening. The French press also reports on the intervention of the boy's mother, Delphine Godard, who personally asked the Lci broadcaster about "aid needed by France to Italy to explore a difficult area, given that local aid is not enough" , recognizing, however, their "good will".

Friends: "Too few vehicles are used"
On the social networks some friends of Gautier, who arrived in Cilento to participate in research, deplored the lack of means - "in all, we are only 30" with us - saying we feel "alone". In action teams of specialized firefighters, alpine rescue, dog units, a helicopter and drones. To the France Presse agency a source of the Quai d'Orsay had declared that the Italian authorities "have fielded important material and human means, then strengthened, to find Simon Gautier in an extended and difficult to access area". Le Figaro underlines that the local authorities were not able to immediately geolocalize Gautier as the 'Advanced Mobile Location' (Aml) technology is not yet in service in Italy, "an expensive device - tens of thousands of euros - that requires collaboration with Google and Apple, "the French newspaper specifies, stressing that" soon Italy will be forced to implement it, like the other EU countries ". To trace Gautier's position the carabinieri have had to refer to repeaters," a classic geolocation method, much slower and more complicated, especially in an uninhabited area so little supplied with antennas "adds Le Figaro. A reconstruction that ends with the discovery of Gautier last night in a ravine at Belvedere di Coliandrea, about 200 km south of Naples, by fire brigade and mountain rescue. On the spot also the transalpine ambassador and the father of the young hiker. In the same moment, according to the French press, a Mass was celebrated in the village of Scario for the young hiker and rescuers. This morning his body was recovered, transferred to the port of Scario and then to the Sapri hospital for an autopsy. An investigation was opened by the prosecutor's office of Vallo della Lucania "to determine the causes of death and to determine whether Simon Gautier could have been saved", concludes the broadcaster Radio France Internationale.