Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: PHILIPPE ROY / AURIMAGES VIA AFP 7:17 p.m., March 10, 2024
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.
Once on the ground, despite lengthy attempts at resuscitation, the man was declared dead by the Smur doctor.
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 phenomenon expected until Wednesday evening, AFP learned from firefighters and the prefecture.
A witness seeing the man's body in the water alerted emergency services who arrived on site shortly after 12 p.m. aboard a civil security Dragon helicopter.
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, firefighters said.
Once on the ground, despite lengthy resuscitation attempts, the octogenarian was declared dead by the Smur doctor.
Unclear circumstances
"The circumstances of his death are unclear. We do not know if he was fishing on foot or if he went too far and was trapped by the rising waters that had been going on for about an hour, or if he made a discomfort given his advanced age,” a spokesperson for the Charente-Maritime prefecture told AFP.
The victim, who lived in Sainte-Marie-de Ré, was “a keen fisherman”, according to France Bleu La Rochelle.
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An episode of very high tides has affected the entire Atlantic coastline since Sunday morning.
The department of Charente-Maritime has been classified orange in "flood" vigilance, as have Gironde and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, also in orange "wave-submersion" vigilance, as well as the Landes, according to Météo France.
The strongest tides will be Monday and Tuesday
“Significant maritime overflows during high seas are expected on the Adour-Nive confluence” are to be feared until Monday 10 a.m. and in a more moderate manner “on the Bec du Gave”, writes the Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefecture.
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Other overflows are also possible in the estuaries of the Gironde and the section of the Seudre, according to the Charente-Maritime prefecture.
The strongest tides will occur Monday and Tuesday with a coefficient of 116 in Bayonne and La Rochelle and 117 in Bordeaux, according to the tide.info website.