Le Figaro Nantes
“The port of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie is in mourning,”
François Blanchet, the mayor of this seaside resort in Vendée, communicated Sunday evening in a message posted on social networks.
Saturday morning, a sailor fell into the sea while returning from fishing.
“Arriving from
Senegal
at the beginning of the year, to board the “Fruit de la passion”, Mamadou was 45 years old
,” specifies the councilor, while providing support to his children, his family and his colleagues.
Around 1 p.m., Saturday, the Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Center (CROSS) Etel was informed of the disappearance of a fisherman after falling from a net net south of the island of Yeu, in the sector of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.
According to
Ouest France
, the three other employees on board did not immediately notice the absence of their peer.
Navy helicopter, patrol plane, SNSM...
Significant resources were mobilized to try to find the father of the fisherman family:
“the Dauphin helicopter of the French Navy based in La Rochelle;
the Civil Security Dragon 17 helicopter;
two launches from the National Society of Sea Rescuers (SNSM) SNS 84 from the island of Yeu and SNS 154 from Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie;
the Falcon 50 maritime patrol aircraft based in Lann-Bihoué;
several fishing vessels including: the Fruit de la passion, the Diapason, Dimezelle and the Aurore Boréale,”
lists the Atlantic Maritime Prefecture in a press release published two days ago.
Investigations continued throughout Saturday afternoon.
But
“at 8:00 p.m., for lack of new information, the searches by directed means were stopped”
.
The representative of the fishermen of Saint-Gilles, Frédéric Charrier, remains discreet and did not know the fisherman who arrived recently.
However, he has no illusions and speaks to Le
Figaro
of a shared emotion after this
“death”
.
He also confirms that an investigation has been opened.
When requested, the prosecution had not, for the time being, responded to our request.
“In 42 years, this is the first sailor to die in these conditions
,” specifies the spokesperson for the local professionals.
The other times, it involved individuals who died alone on their boat, or from cardiac arrest.
In 2016, a fisherman who had gone to sea alone aboard a 7.65 m longliner never returned.