The Niort public prosecutor's office announced on Tuesday the opening of a judicial investigation into the case of the 18-year-old student who had been missing since an evening at a discotheque on the night of February 10 to 11 in Deux-Sèvres.
“At the end of the 8-day period provided for in article 74-1 of the code of criminal procedure regarding investigations into worrying disappearances, Erwan Blais has not been found and the circumstances of his disappearance have not been established. been elucidated despite the significant resources involved
,” writes prosecutor Julien Wattebled in a press release.
“The Niort public prosecutor's office under these conditions opened a worrying disappearance of judicial information”
on Monday, he adds.
Complaint for “failure to assist a person in danger”
The disappearance of the young man was reported by friends with whom he had spent the evening in a nightclub located in Moncoutant-sur-Sèvre.
According to the investigation, he left around 1:45 a.m. and video surveillance images showed him later that night in the establishment's parking lot.
His phone broadcast until 2:50 a.m., according to the prosecution.
A call for witnesses was broadcast after a search in which 120 people participated the next day.
Dozens of police, including divers, dogs, a drone and a helicopter, took part in the search last week.
In parallel with this judicial information, Erwan's family filed a complaint against the nightclub for
"failure to assist a person in danger"
.
A co-manager of the nightclub told Courrier de l'Ouest last week that the evening brought together more than 900 people in the nightclub, where seven security guards worked, including two responsible for guarding the outside.
“We have nothing to reproach ourselves for
,” he told the newspaper, adding that one of the agents had brought the missing young man back in front of the establishment as he was heading towards an embankment and the water points. surroundings.
A “non-serious”
incident
linked to his alcohol consumption would have been the cause of his exit from the nightclub, according to certain witnesses.