The four-year-old girl swept away by a wave in Marseille died in hospital during the night between Saturday and Sunday. Her eight-year-old sister is still missing. The search resumed on Sunday morning.
LThe four-year-old girl who had been swept away by a wave along with her eight-year-old sister and her father on Saturday evening in Marseille, south of Pointe Rouge, died during the night. She had been found and then taken to a hospital in Marseille whilst in cardiac arrest.
His 8-year-old sister has still not been found. The search, which was suspended on Saturday evening at around 9.30 pm, resumed on Sunday morning, according to La Provence, with the support of a National Gendarmerie helicopter. The father, meanwhile, was quickly pulled from the water by fishermen before being taken to hospital.
At around 6 pm on Saturday, a witness alerted the fire brigade that “three people – a 38-year-old man and two girls aged 4 and 8 – had been swept away by a wave south of Pointe Rouge”, according to a statement from the Toulon Maritime Prefecture, which reported on Saturday evening that the water temperature was 12°C and there was a 2.5-metre swell. “Several resources were immediately deployed to carry out the search: the SNSM patrol boat ‘La Bonne Mère de Marseille’, one rigid-hulled inflatable boat from the Marseille Marine Fire Brigade, and the Dragon 131 helicopter from the Civil Protection Service.” The search focused on the Madrague de Montredon area, situated between the centre of Marseille and the Calanques.
Meanwhile, the body of a 24-year-old man, who had fallen into the water during the night from the Corniche in the southern districts of Marseille, was found on Sunday morning. According to initial findings from the investigation, it appears to have been a suicide linked to a romantic disappointment.
Eleven departments, including Bouches-du-Rhône, were placed on orange alert on Saturday morning due to strong winds; the alert was lifted later that day as weather conditions improved.
Back in early February, a 33-year-old man had been swept away by a wave and drowned whilst fishing on the coast in Marseille.