• The 11-year-old child who had still not been found Monday afternoon, was part of a summer camp from Loiret.

  • Saturday afternoon, a 15-year-old teenager died off Cap-Ferret (Gironde).

  • Friday evening a 22-year-old German tourist perished off Labenne (Landes).

Known for its dangerousness, the coast of Nouvelle-Aquitaine was again in mourning this weekend. Two people, a 22-year-old German tourist, and a 15-year-old teenager from Bassens (Gironde), perished Friday evening in Labenne (Landes) for one, and Saturday afternoon off Cap-Ferret (Gironde) ) for the other. An 11-year-old child was still wanted on Monday, missing since Friday afternoon in Meschers-sur-Gironde (Charente-Maritime).

The girl was part of a group of children who found themselves in difficulty in the water, off the beach of Meschers-sur-Gironde, at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, due to the strong current. Three young people were rescued, including a young girl who was hospitalized for onset of drowning, but without a life threatening prognosis. The group came from a summer camp in Loiret on vacation near Royan.

Sunday, the sub-prefect of Jonzac (Charente-Maritime) affirmed in

South West to

be from now on "in search of the body" of the child.

Joined this Monday by

20 Minutes

, the prefecture refused to comment, "the file is now judicial.

The prosecution of Saintes was indeed seized, and an investigation was opened, to shed light on the circumstances of this tragedy.

A medico-psychological emergency unit was also dispatched to the group of children and organizers of the colony.

The teenager "swam 3.5 km south of the aid station"

On Saturday, the lifeless body of a 15-year-old teenager was brought back to the beach by swimmers off Cap-Ferret. "It was 3.5 km south of the L'Horizon surveillance post" underlines Captain Pascal Gensous, from the zonal direction of the South West CRS, "that is to say outside the supervised area, and even outside the restricted area. "

On Friday, a 22-year-old German tourist perished off Labenne.

“She had gone to bathe at 9 pm, with her two brothers, so out of time of surveillance.

She was found further south, on the metro beach in Tarnos around half past midnight, deceased.

"Captain Gensous specifies that the victim" was not carried away by a current of baïne, contrary to what has been widely disseminated, since there is no baïne in Labenne, but by a current of surf, that is, it was sucked up by the ocean and brought out to sea with waves of two or three meters which were fatal to it.

"

"Symptomatic" accidents of drownings on the Aquitaine coast

For the CRS, these two dramatic accidents "are symptomatic" of drownings on the Aquitaine coast. “These are always the same scenarios, with people swimming outside the supervised area, either in the middle of a baïne because it is a place a priori calm, or in rough seas. The only watchword is to go swimming in a supervised area, between the blue flames where there are lifeguards, even if the bathing area is sometimes narrow. "

The return of better weather on Friday and Saturday, when the weather had been rather bad since the start of summer, was also a factor in these accidents.

"There is a direct link between the weather and the frequentation of beaches and drownings," confirms Guillaume Turpin, deputy inspector of lifeguard swimmers from the SNSM (National Society for Rescue at Sea).

And sometimes, some have inappropriate behaviors, even dangerous.

"" Saturday at Porge (Gironde), we counted 5,000 cars in the parking lot or about 20 to 25,000 people, says Pascal Gensous.

This is where people spread out a bit, pass through secondary or even wild accesses, and bathe in unauthorized places.

The good weather plays a role, especially when the ocean is a bit nasty, which was the case in recent days.

"

Don't panic in a baïne

The SNSM also insists on bathing in a supervised area, “especially in this part of the former Aquitaine because it is a dangerous coast with its phenomena of baïne. "The lifeguards position the bathing areas according to the dangerousness of the beach, outside this area, if you are carried away by a current, the emergency response time will be extended" insists Guillaume Turpin.

The assistant inspector recalls that “the baïne is a basin of water, which is filled by the waves which come crashing on the sandbank, and when the water is evacuated that generates a tearing current which takes you towards the wide.

If you are caught, you have to keep your calm and your energy to make signs to witnesses or rescuers, the danger being to want to fight against this current, which generates exhaustion.

You rarely get out of it, except by swimming perpendicular to this current.

"

Miscellaneous

Southwest: Three drownings in 24 hours on the Aquitaine coast

Society

Drowning in New Aquitaine: Shore break, baïnes… CRS meet schoolchildren to discuss the dangers of the ocean

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