The drama began late Wednesday afternoon. An unaccompanied foreign minor, who was taking part in an outing organized by a children’s home in La Trinité (Alpes-Maritimes) died Wednesday by drowning in the Paillon river, told 20 minutes the municipality and the public prosecutor’s office of Nice, confirming information from
Nice morning.
According to the first elements collected, an educator had taken seven children from 6 to 13 years old hosted in this home to taste and then bathe in the neighboring town of Blausasc. “The place, which the educator did not know but which some children did know, is made up of a small, undeveloped and unsupervised beach along the river, with shallow water, between ankles and knees. On the other side a basin has formed in which an adult has no foot, ”explained the prosecution.
The child, who knew how to swim, had fun with others by jumping into this basin from a rock. After several jumps, “he called the educator by her first name, waving his arms, [mais] all believed that he was pretending to drown because he used to be joker ”, added the prosecution.
“An autopsy is soon planned”
The educator, who did not manage to pull him up immediately, then asked for help from another minor, who managed to grab him and pull him back up after several attempts. Despite the mouth-to-mouth massage and massage performed by the educator and then the intervention of the firefighters, the boy could never be revived.
The victim was a foreign minor placed since January in this home which depends on the department. His mother, of Tunisian nationality, lives in Italy. His biological father would also be there, without precise location.
The investigation, entrusted to the research brigade of the gendarmerie of Nice, will aim to “specify in particular the responsibilities and the circumstances of the facts”, specified Xavier Bonhomme, public prosecutor of Nice, indicating that “a autopsy is planned soon ”.