Marines participate in particular in the protection of naval sites, such as naval and naval air bases or sites and activities linked to nuclear deterrence – LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
The mourning navy. A mariner in his twenties was found dead overnight from Saturday to Sunday after falling into the water during a patrol in the harbor of Cherbourg (Manche), we learned from of the public prosecutor’s office and the maritime prefecture. Another marine rifleman, also fallen into the water, was taken care of by the firefighters and transported to the Pasteur hospital in Cherbourg.
The French Navy sent Sunday on Twitter “its deep condolences to the family, relatives and brothers in arms of the sailor Jeff Rotaru of the Company of Marines Le Goffic, who died in service during a surveillance patrol in the harbor. of Cherbourg ”. The two victims, born in 1998, were carrying out a surveillance patrol of the maritime approaches and the Cherbourg naval base, when they fell into the water “for circumstances which remain to be determined”, according to Cherbourg prosecutor Yves Le Clair. .
The French Navy sends its deep condolences to the family, relatives and brothers in arms of the sailor Jeff Rotaru of the Compagnie de fusiliers marin Le Goffic, who died in service during a surveillance patrol in the harbor of Cherbourg. https://t.co/fdmiYmLW4f pic.twitter.com/okavcR4tUw
– French Navy (@MarineNationale) March 28, 2021
Important research device
Informed, the regional operational center for surveillance and rescue (CROSS) Jobourg (Manche) has engaged “many means of search and rescue”, according to a press release from the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea. A helicopter, a semi-rigid rescue boat, a land patrol from the harbor master’s office in Cherbourg, the national company for sea rescue (SNSM) from Urville-Nacqueville and Fermanville are notably deployed.
Two semi-rigid boats from the Le Goffic marines company, divers from the maritime gendarmerie, the Cherbourg firefighters are also dispatched to the search area. “Very quickly, the first marine rifleman was found by a RIB from the Le Goffic company. Arrived at the quay, he was taken care of by the Cherbourg firefighters and transported to the Pasteur hospital in Cherbourg, ”wrote the prefecture in its press release.
“The emergency services could not revive him”
But it was only later in the evening that the second marine rifle is “found, inanimate, by the clearance divers of the group of mine clearance divers of the Channel”, according to the same source. “Despite all the efforts of the medical team, the emergency services could not revive him,” he said. An investigation was opened and entrusted to the maritime gendarmerie.
The prosecutor of Cherbourg must relinquish the investigation during the day for the benefit of the parquet of Rennes, competent for military affairs. Marines participate in particular in the protection of naval sites, such as naval and naval air bases or sites and activities linked to nuclear deterrence.