Two soldiers who were participating in a training course died in a diving accident in the Maine River in Angers last night. They were aged 24 and 30. One of the two victims came from a regiment from Occitanie.
The diving exercise was organized in the middle of the night. Two soldiers died in Angers (Maine-et-Loire) on the Maine River during the night from Monday to Tuesday. They were aged 24 and 30. Master Corporal Axel Deplanque was assigned to the 6th Engineer Regiment of Angers and Sergeant Bin Chen to the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment of Laudun (Gard), according to The Western Mail.
Stuck in the cavity of a bridge pier?
“It was a joint exercise which was to last 4 hours. At one point, the connection was broken,” explained the prosecutor of the Republic of Angers Eric Bouillard to our colleagues. The two divers could have been stuck in the cavity of a pier of the Basse-Chaîne bridge which spans the river, according to our colleagues.
When emergency services arrived at 3:30 a.m., the two soldiers were in cardio-respiratory arrest. Their death was recorded at Angers University Hospital. The exercise began at 11 p.m.
10 hours of internship
The diving course began in Saint-Mandrier (Var) for the sea part and continued in Angers for the fresh water part, according to an Army source. The two training modules were to last 10 hours.
The Angers public prosecutor’s office relinquished the investigation in favor of the Rennes public prosecutor’s office, which has military jurisdiction. The investigation was entrusted to the Angers gendarmerie research brigade.
The Ministry of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs published a press release in which it does not comment on the circumstances, but in which it specifies that General Schill, Chief of Staff of the Army, joins in the pain of the families, loved ones and brothers in arms of the two victims.
