A survey formanslaughter“was opened after the fatal fall of a 70-year-old woman in Erquy (Côtes-d’Armor) in a connecting channel of the wind farm under construction in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, announced Tuesday, May 3 the prosecutor of this city.
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The septuagenarian died Monday afternoon on the beach of Caroual, in Erquy. “This person was walking alone by the sea, at low tide, water at mid calves. (…) On this occasion, she fell into a channel, filled with water, with a depth of between 4 and 6 meters and with an almost immediate drop“Said in a press release the public prosecutor of Saint-Brieuc, Nicolas Heitz. Rescued by a witness, the victim died shortly after being taken out of the water, despite an attempt at resuscitation.
Manslaughter investigation
“As part of the ongoing work to land the offshore wind farm connection project, two contiguous channels have been dug over a width of 60 meters and a length of 250 meters“, specifies the press release. One of the canals was partially filled, when the second, in which the walker fell, had to be “after the intervention of the divers to anchor the cables by ballasting them“. The autopsy carried out concluded that he died by drowning. The findings on the spot are still in progress, as well as the hearings of witnesses, in order to determine the exact circumstances of the death.
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“An inventory of the signage and safety measures implemented on the site will be carried out“, adds the press release. “An investigation has been opened for manslaughter. It will have to determine if faults have been committed, in particular in terms of signaling“, said the prosecutor to AFP. The investigation was entrusted to the research brigade and the autonomous territorial brigade of Pléneuf-Val-André, as well as to the research section of the maritime gendarmerie.
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