The green algae are not the cause of the brutal death on July 6, in the Bay of Morlaix, of a young oyster farmer of 18 years revealed the analyzes practiced on the body of the victim, announced Thursday the floor of Brest. "The results of the laboratory specialized in research of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) dismiss this thesis", assured the public prosecutor of the Republic of Brest Jean-Philippe Recapped. "The green algae are nothing in the death of the young man," he insisted, without clarifying the causes of death.
Water in the victim's lungs
The autopsy of the body revealed a few days after the tragedy that water was in the lungs of the victim. Further analysis had been requested by the prosecution. At the time of the tragedy, two environmental protection associations had mentioned the "trail of sulphuretted hydrogen poisoning", a toxic gas released by decomposing green algae.
Saying they went to the scene of drama, they said they had "discovered a large muddy space covered by a continuous layer of green algae". For several years, the Trégor Safeguarding and Green Tackling associations have been fighting for the establishment of an automatic medical protocol in the event of a suspicious death. Green algae, which appeared half a century ago, covered up to 4,100 hectares in 2008 in Brittany, a region where the phenomenon is the most massive. They remain a scourge even if their volume tends to fall (1,860 ha in 2018).