• On August 7, 2019, the young Laëtitia lost her life in Pornichet after being struck by a boat propeller.

  • His mother, Caroline Leclercq, is now campaigning to equip boats with propeller cages.

    She launched a petition which has already collected some 30,000 signatures.

“Not a day goes by that I don't cry for my daughter… But my medicine now is to fight this fight. »Almost two years ago, Caroline Leclercq suddenly lost her child, Laëtitia, victim of a tragic accident off Pornichet (Loire-Atlantique). It was during the holidays, August 7, 2019: the 15-year-old teenager was doing a towed buoy when she was caught by the propeller of the semi-rigid, which had turned around to come and retrieve it in the water. The emergency services could not do anything to save her.

If the father of the young victim has since been convicted of manslaughter (he was on the boat and had left the controls to his 12-year-old son), Laëtitia's mother is now fighting so that other families do not not to experience this type of drama.

Launched online at the beginning of June, his petition aiming to "make compulsory protection around the propellers of motor boats" has already reached nearly 30,000 signatures.

[# SécuritéEnMer] Before enjoying the sensations of the towed buoy, equip yourself with a propeller cage.


This device makes it possible to limit accidents when a person is in the water near the boat.

pic.twitter.com/tr0ld9aljs

- Maritime Prefecture and ATLANT Command-in-Chief (@premar_ceclant) July 17, 2021

"The hope that things move"

Because once the shock passed, Caroline Leclercq, 52, realized a legal vacuum that reigns, according to her, around these machines sometimes piloted by tourists little informed. “There is nothing, no regulation around these propellers which are however real choppers, deplores this resident of the Paris region. I would like a law to succeed, for boats to have the obligation to equip themselves with a propeller cage. It is a protection device that does not cost that much, between 100 and 300 euros, and which does not take too long to install. Some countries have already adopted it.

In France, mentalities seem to be shifting a bit. In Seine-Maritime, for example, LREM deputy Stéphanie Kerbarh took up the issue and obtained the launch of a general inspection mission, the conclusions of which must be presented shortly. At the same time, awareness is also slowly evolving. “Since the tragedy, we have added to our prevention messages that of equipping with a propeller cage, says one on the side of the Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic. And especially for ships very close to bathing areas, or those that may come across underwater hunters or freedivers. There is real vigilance to be had, even if the deaths are fortunately exceptional. "

A few months before Laëtitia's death, a young kitesurfer, Stan, lost his life in Finistère in similar circumstances.

Since then, the Glénan sailing school has announced that it has equipped sixteen motor boats with protective cages.

"I have hope that things move, advance Caroline Leclercq.

There have been deaths, people with limb amputations.

You go on vacation and a nightmare begins….

Everyone must be made aware of this danger.

"

Society

Brittany: For more safety, the Glénan sailing school installs propeller cages on its boats

Miscellaneous

Pornichet: The questions that arise after the death of a teenager in a towed buoy accident

  • Drama

  • security

  • Boating

  • Petition

  • Society