A celebratory evening that turned into a nightmare in Montauban. On the night of Friday May 6 to Saturday May 7, 2022, two rugby players from the USM team threw themselves off a bridge. One of them was Kelly Meafua, who was found dead this morning.
The USM players were to celebrate their victory in Pro D2 against Narbonne this Friday, May 6, 2022. According to information from the Dépêche du Midi, three club players left the nightclub in the morning and headed to the Pont- Old.
Around 6:30 a.m., Samoan player Kelly Meafua would have jumped over the safety rail to jump into the Tarn from the bridge from a height of 22 meters. Quickly, his teammate who accompanied him, the French prop Christopher Vaotoa, jumped into the water to try to help him.
A witness to the scene explained that the third player was also about to jump: “I retained the third, very alcoholic, who wanted to do the same”. A dozen firefighters intervened to rescue the two men who had thrown themselves into the water.
The track of a “dramatic accident” is for the moment privileged
The French player was rescued by firefighters and taken to hospital in a state of hypothermia. Released this morning, he is in good health according to the Montalban club. As for Kelly Meafua, he was found drowned early in the morning.
USM Sapiac painfully announces the death of Kelly MEAFUA.
We are all shocked by this tragedy which occurred overnight from Friday to Saturday.
All our thoughts go out to his family, teammates and all club lovers.https://t.co/hpz8htw2fW pic.twitter.com/XcvSLa3KDs
— USM Sapiac (@UsmSapiacRugby) May 7, 2022
An autopsy was requested by the Montauban prosecution to determine the exact causes of Kelly Meafua’s death and to detect possible traces of alcohol or narcotics in the blood of the 31-year-old third line.
For the moment, the prosecutor of Montauban, Bruno Sauvage evokes the track of a “dramatic accident”.