A body recovered in Ardèche on Wednesday is indeed that of a man who went missing in Saint-Martin-de-Valamas during the severe weather of the weekend, the Privas prosecutor's office said on Thursday, bringing the death toll to seven. storm Monica in France.
“It is indeed the body of the person in charge of the hydroelectric power station
,” who went missing on Saturday evening and was recovered on Wednesday by emergency services in Eyrieux, prosecutor Cécile Deprade told AFP.
“The autopsy which will be carried out on Tuesday will make it possible to determine the causes of death
,” added the magistrate.
Search for bodies
This septuagenarian was last seen on Saturday, when he left to check a micro power plant for which he was responsible.
His body was spotted Tuesday by hunters and relatives.
Located in a steep place, downstream from the site of his disappearance, it initially remained inaccessible to rescuers.
It required reinforcement from the Valence river brigade, a high-mountain helicopter and aquatic rescuers from the Ardèche firefighters to recover it.
His identification brings the death toll from violent weather over the weekend to seven deaths in the south-east of France.
In Spain, three people were also swept away by sea waves linked to Storm Monica.
Gard firefighters and gendarmes continue Thursday, for the 5th consecutive day, the search along the Gardon, to find a 13-year-old teenager, swept away Saturday evening by the flooded river with his four-year-old sister and their father, who were found dead.
The family was trying to drive across a submersible bridge in Dions, a village of 500 inhabitants north of Nîmes.
Only the mother, aged 40, was able to be airlifted in conditions of rain and wind described as
“dangerous”
by the firefighters, before the car was swept away by the flood.
The father's body was found on Monday and that of the girl on Tuesday.
On site, Wednesday, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, sent
“a message of compassion for the families directly affected”
.