A 27-year-old Belgian tourist died in Guadeloupe in a pleasure boat accident in which four other people were injured, the Cayenne prosecutor's office, responsible for maritime matters for the Antilles-Guyana, said on Tuesday.
“The boat, 6.70 m long and with a 200 HP engine, rented for the day, had taken nine people on board,” Yves Le Clair, public prosecutor of Cayenne, told AFP.
While sailing on Monday on the Rivière Salée, an arm of the sea which separates Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, the boat violently hit a pillar of a bridge connecting these two islands of Guadeloupe.
Violation of maritime traffic rules?
“Five people were ejected: four were injured and one died,” said the prosecutor, adding that the latter was a Belgian “born in 1997” who was spending her vacation on the island.
His body will be autopsied this week.
An investigation was opened for “violation of maritime traffic rules leading to death”.
“It will be necessary to specify whether the person at the helm of the boat was the one who had rented it, and if not, whether they held the necessary licenses to pilot this vessel,” detailed the prosecutor.
The victims of the accident were still being interviewed this Tuesday by investigators.