An investigation has been opened into the disappearance at sea of the 75-year-old French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin who was trying to cross the Atlantic by rowing boat, missing off the Azores.
The prosecutor’s office in Bordeaux, in the south-west of France, opened an investigation on Monday into the disappearance at sea of the 75-year-old French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin who was trying to cross the Atlantic by rowing boat, missing off the coast. of the Azores, the prosecution told AFP. The prosecution opened “an investigation for worrying disappearance” the day after the announcement by the Portuguese navy of the end of the search to find the body of the Frenchman, resident of Arès, a city west of Bordeaux and in the basin. of Arcachon (a lagoon).
In Lisbon, a spokesman for the Portuguese navy told AFP on Monday that “there are no more resources to search for the French citizen, but a notice has been issued so that the ships found in the area be alert” for any clues to find him.
During the weekend, contradictory information maintained the vagueness. His entourage had indicated on Saturday that the navigator had been “found lifeless” inside his canoe L’Audacieux, information then denied on Sunday by the Portuguese navy in a press release. “The search ended yesterday at the end of the day (Saturday) without it being possible to find the victim,” she said.
The canoe of Jean-Jacques Savin, 75, found empty in the middle of the Atlantic https://t.co/2iTV2SUHjmpic.twitter.com/LE28BsCIS3
— L’Obs (@lobs) January 24, 2022
A spokeswoman explained that during the rescue operation, the rescuers had “strong reason to believe that a body could be inside” the cabin of the boat. The septuagenarian’s boat, which intended to become the “dean of the Atlantic”, was found upside down, as evidenced by a photo released by the Portuguese navy where we see the hull of the boat floating on the surface , then hoisted aboard one of his corvettes.
The navigator who made himself known by crossing the Atlantic in a barrel in 2019, pushed by winds and currents, had triggered in the eight from Thursday to Friday his two distress beacons, indicating that he was + in great difficulty +. During the last contacts, Jean-Jacques Savin was on his way to the island of Ponta Delgada, in the Azores archipelago.
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