A French soldier died in a maintenance accident in Chad, where the anti-jihadist Barkhane force is deployed, the army staff said on Friday. "While carrying out a maintenance intervention on a refrigeration unit at the Kossei base in N'Djamena in Chad, Chief Brigadier Andy Fila, electromechanic refrigeration engineer for the Barkhane force, was fatally affected by the explosion" d 'a gas cylinder, the statement said. He died of his injuries. A military investigation has been opened.
>> ALSO READ - Sahel: what we know about the death of the two French legionaries
The 25-year-old father of one child, Brigadier-Chief Andy Fila belonged to the 14th Infantry and Parachute Logistics Support Regiment in Toulouse. He had been deployed several times in overseas operations. Already sent to Mali in 2016, he returned there in June.
A tribute to the National Assembly
The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General of the Army François Lecointre, "bows with deep sadness to the memory of this soldier who died in operations", specifies the General Staff, reporting the wounded but without give details.
At the National Assembly, at the request of LR Thibault Bazin, the deputies spontaneously paid tribute to this soldier, observing a minute of silence, on the sidelines of the examination of the bioethics bill.
Operation Barkhane counts around 5,100 soldiers. In total, 43 French soldiers died in combat in operations Serval (2013) and Barkhane (since 2014), according to the general staff. A count that does not include accidents.