Six people escaped overnight from Saturday to Sunday from the administrative detention center (CRA) in Nîmes, in the Gard. These six people in an irregular situation on French soil were placed in this center, pending their possible renewal outside the territory. As the building suffered a power outage, fires were started in several cells. “Six people are wanted for having taken advantage of the confusion to escape”, underlines the public prosecutor of Nîmes, Cécile Gensac. She specifies that “none is on file for a terrorist or disturbing profile”.
“For some reason to be determined, the generator set [n’a pas pris] the relay, plunging the CRA for very long hours in the dark, evokes the police union Alliance du Gard, in a press release. Quickly, the detainees present lit fires in three living areas. Two of them are totally out of service, according to the union.
Eleven people hospitalized
Eleven people, “intoxicated by inhaled fumes”, had to be evacuated to the Nîmes hospital center. They all returned to the regional center on Sunday morning. “Criminal investigations in progress aim to identify the perpetrators of the damage by fire”, specifies the public prosecutor. They also aim “to find people (…) residing illegally for whom the administrative authority was carrying out procedures intended to return them to their country of origin”.
The Alliance union denounces “insufficient police personnel to intervene safely”. He calls for “the total closure of the burned areas, a complete safety audit and an improvement in working conditions”.