Yvelines: Firefighters are searching 230,000 m² of quarries to find missing teenagers

Around 80 firefighters were called out on Saturday evening from 5.00 pm to 1.00 am to search for 20 teenagers who had got lost in some quarries. Three young people raised the alarm after spotting smoke, having seen around twenty people enter the stone quarries at Carrières-sur-Seine. The Yvelines departmental fire and rescue service requested backup from the Paris Fire Brigade and also called in its specialists from the long-duration exploration unit; this unit is specially equipped with closed-circuit breathing apparatus, providing a much longer operating time than the average 20 minutes offered by the open-circuit breathing apparatus carried by firefighters in their vehicles. Several small fires were extinguished over the first 100 metres before a lengthy reconnaissance operation was carried out. The reconnaissance operation ultimately lasted 8 hours, during which 230,000 m² of tunnels were surveyed; the rescue teams subsequently learnt that the individuals had left the quarries before they arrived. The group of teenagers has not yet been identified.