The balcony of a 4th floor apartment collapsed during a student party.
Eighteen young people fell from 8.50 m high.
Four of them died.
Five professionals involved in the design and construction are judged.
“There was a big crash.
Then intense pain.
It was an attack scene.
It was dark, I heard screams, crying.
We immediately understood the gravity.
These memories will haunt me all my life.
Like Youri, 26, the survivors of the tragedy that occurred on October 15, 2016 followed one another at the bar of the Angers criminal court on Monday, on the fourth day of the trial of the collapsed balconies of rue Maillé.
When the disaster occurred at 11 p.m., around 30 students were taking part in a “housewarming party” on the fourth floor.
Eighteen were on the balcony, which suddenly collapsed, dragging in its fall, 8.50 m below, the balconies of the lower floors.
Four young people were killed: Lou Chéné, 18, Antoine Courgeon, 21, Benjamin Groud-Brisset, 23, and Baptiste Ferchaud,
Bérénice Rondeau was one of the organizers of the evening.
“We were talking on the balcony, everyone was happy to meet.
I left it to put on sneakers, my feet hurt with my heels.
I barely have time to come back when I hear a dull noise, then two more.
I thought it was a bomb going off in the yard.
My sister screams: "they have all fallen".
We didn't understand.
"I leaned over the void, we couldn't see much," adds Mathilde, her sister.
I called for help, others ran down the stairs to look down.
There were people who were agitated.
Some had their heads bleeding or full of dust.
I especially remember Julia who had her foot stuck and was screaming in pain.
»
“Stop, there are people below”
Julia Renoux, 21 years old at the time, indeed suffered several fractures to her limbs and to the sacrum by rocking with the balcony.
“I didn't understand when it collapsed but I remember the sudden silence, surely when we were in a vacuum.
Then the shocks.
"" It went very quickly, I felt like I was on a roller coaster, with flashes of light, confirms Adèle Barbe, also injured in the accident.
I remember the impacts when we landed on the other balconies.
On the ground, I found myself almost standing.
I saw Antoine [Courgeon]'s legs sticking out of the rubble.
I tried to reassure him, not knowing if he could hear me.
People were climbing over the rubble to help and I remember yelling, 'Stop doing that, there are people down there.'
Baptiste Recoing was one of the five people trapped under the remains of balconies.
He is the only one to have survived.
“At the time of the collapse, I was at the railing.
I find myself on the ground, blocked at the level of the back under a slab.
I couldn't feel my legs.
I stayed an hour down there.
I thought I was going to die or become disabled.
Youri gave me his hand, supported me.
I consider today that he saved my life.
Miraculously, Baptiste Recoing suffered from kidney fractures, spine fractures, several sprains and multiple wounds.
“It was my parents, at the hospital, who told me that four people had died, including Baptiste and Benjamin, the friends with whom I spent the most time at that time.
I have a feeling of guilt about that.
Why did I get out?
It is still very difficult to live with today.
»
Théophile Chéné, the brother of Lou, one of the four deceased victims, was also on the balcony that evening.
“I looked for my sister, I called her.
At one point, I saw his legs, and the body of Baptiste Ferchaud not far away.
I wanted to help her, reassure her, be her big brother, but I couldn't get up.
I thought they were just hurt.
I never imagined that they could die.
»
“We understood by deduction when the stretchers stopped”
If help arrived a few minutes after the disaster, the information took a long time to be disseminated to the survivors.
"We were made to understand that there were probably three boys and a girl who had died, but we didn't know the names," recalls Bérénice Rondeau.
We understood by deduction who it was when the stretchers stopped passing in front of us.
I will remember all my life the tears of Antoine's parents who thought they had lost their child.
I was 20 years old.
It's worse than cruel, it's unfair.
We shouldn't be going through this.
I expect a lot from this trial.
I need to understand.
"" This night, it will remain engraved forever in my memory, confirms Mathilde Oustric, another survivor.
We all carry pain.
I hope this trial will allow us to see things clearly.
And above all to try, a little bit,
to live again.
»
Five professionals who participated in the design and construction of this building delivered in 1998 are being prosecuted for homicide and involuntary injuries: the architect, the former manager of the structural work company (Bonnel company), the works supervisor, the site manager and the technical controller.
The court recalled last week that the experts had ruled out the hypothesis of an overload of the balcony, as well as inappropriate behavior by the guests on the evening of the tragedy.
Justice
Trial of the collapsed balconies of Angers: "We heard a great crash..." What happened on the evening of the disaster?
Justice
Trial of the collapsed balconies of Angers: "It was extremely violent ..." The parents let out emotion and anger
Angers
Drama
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