Storm Frederico: a first victim recovered off the coast of Finistère
A first victim of storm Frederico was recovered at sea on Friday November 17, reports Le Parisien. It could be the skipper who disappeared off the coast of Finistère and whose catamaran, caught in a strong swell, was found overturned following the triggering of a distress beacon.
Drama at sea. While storm Fredrico caused a lot of damage, particularly in the west and north of the country, a first victim of the storm was found by a trawler off the Glénan archipelago, in Finistère , reported Le Parisien, Friday November 17. If for the moment, the body recovered by the National Sea Rescue Society (SNSM) “has not been formally identified”, it could be that of a sailor, missing at sea since Thursday after his catamaran overturned. Aged 75, his family was informed of the discovery of the body.
Present at sea during the passage of storm Frederico, it was 8:37 a.m. Thursday, November 16 when the Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Center (CROSS) of Gris-Nez retransmitted a distress signal emanating from a catamaran located “15 nautical miles from coasts”, indicated the prefecture in a press release. No longer able to contact the sailor, a major search effort was launched with the Civil Security Dragon 29 helicopter, the French Navy’s Caiman and the SNSM’s “Men-Meur” speedboat dispatched to the site.
The catamaran, located less than two hours later, was discovered overturned, carried by raging seas with waves of 6 meters as well as wind gusts reaching 100 km/h, making rescue operations very complicated. Despite the intervention of a helicopter diver to try to find the sailor, the unsuccessful search operations had to be stopped at nightfall.
This article is originally published on actu.orange.fr
