Child missing at sea in Charente-Maritime: searches are relaunched on Sunday – franceinfo

An 11-year-old girl is still missing at sea, off the Meschers-sur-Gironde sector, near Royan (Charente-Maritime) on Sunday August 15. According to France Blue La Rochelle, research resumes, but to a lesser extent. The nautical brigade must return on site, equipped with a sonar, a device which detects the ultrasounds allowing to carry out underwater research.

On Saturday, the day after his disappearance, significant resources were mobilized to find his body. On land, eight gendarmes to travel the coast. At sea, the divers of the nautical brigade. A helicopter from the national gendarmerie also monitored the coastline from the sky. “There is little hope of finding her alive now”, recognized on Saturday the sub-prefect of Jonzac, Estelle Leprêtre.

The girl was followed by social assistance for children and took part in a stay organized by the Aroeven (regional association of educational and holiday works of National Education), which ended on August 16. The group she was in had “most likely been taken by the tide”, said Estelle Leprêtre. “The sea was rough, the coefficient was big, it rose quickly.” The area in which the children bathed and the two animators who supervised them was monitored and four people were rescued, one of the supervisors and three children including a girl who is hospitalized in Saintes, “under surveillance”, until Monday.

The investigation opened by the Saintes prosecutor’s office should specify the circumstances of this tragedy. The other children of this summer camp, housed in a Meschers-sur-Gironde holiday center, are repatriated to their homes, in the Paris region, in Tours and Orléans.