Le Figaro Bordeaux
The tragedy took place on Thursday near the dam of the Moulin de Porchères tourist site, in Gironde.
Preparing barbecue boats for the arrival of an association, a fifty-year-old who was sailing on the water lost control of his defective electric boat, which broke down.
Seeing him in difficulty, the director of the Mill climbed into a similar boat, moored on the bank, to go to his aid.
But the boat of the man she was trying to save was already too close to the dam, subject to its current.
While the restaurant owner, who had jumped into the water, tried to reach the woman who had come to help him, both fell into the dam under the frightened eyes of around twenty witnesses to the scene.
Active according to our sources, they tried to contribute to the rescue by throwing ropes to people caught in the water.
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Whirlwind
Quickly alerted, the firefighters dispatched a diver and an ambulance to save the two victims, while the Gironde gendarmerie secured the area and deployed its dog brigade.
In vain.
The current from the dam, too strong, formed a whirlwind making intervention almost impossible.
These valves were opened for several hours this Friday to channel it.
New search teams, land and water, returned to the site in the hope of finding the remains of the victims.
Drones and sonars have been used, but the castaways have not yet been found.