An octogenarian lost his life on Sunday off the coast of Saint-Martin-de-Ré in Charente-Maritime, whose coastline is affected by high equinox tides. A witness seeing the man's body in the water alerted emergency services who arrived on site shortly after 12 p.m.
A firefighter diver was winched to the site, 300 meters from the shore, to recover the victim "in the process of being stuck" and drop him off on Cible beach. Once on the ground, despite lengthy resuscitation attempts, the man was declared dead by the Smur doctor.