By Sudouest.fr with AFP
The Bordeaux prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Monday January 24 into the disappearance, which occurred on Saturday off the Azores, of the 75-year-old Aresian adventurer who was trying to row across the Atlantic.
The Bordeaux prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Monday into the disappearance at sea of Jean-Jacques Savin, Saturday off the Azores. This “disturbing investigation for disappearance” comes the day after the announcement by the Portuguese navy of the end of the search to find the body of the inhabitant of Arès, in the Arcachon basin.
In Lisbon, a spokesperson for the Portuguese navy told AFP on Monday that “there are no longer any means committed to search for the French citizen, but a notice has been issued so that the ships 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 dead” inside his canoe L’Audacieux, information then denied on Sunday by the Portuguese navy in a press release. “The search ended Saturday at the end of the day without it being possible to find the victim,” she said.
The canoe upside down
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 canoe of the septuagenarian, who 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 his two distress beacons during the night of Thursday to Friday, 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.