A person is wanted by the authorities in Bayonne after falling in the Adour this Friday, during the second night of the city holidays, in an “out of the perimeter” area of the event, the prefecture announced in a press release.
An investigation for “worrying disappearance” was also opened by the Bayonne prosecutor’s office on these facts, said the Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefecture.
Research operations complicated by the conditions
According to the authorities, the person “fell in the Adour at 2:45 am, on the Saint-Frédéric bridge located a kilometer on foot from the exit of the holiday perimeter”, which are held from July 9 to 13, in the city center of Bayonne.
Research operations, complicated by a “rising tide and strong currents”, were immediately carried out by two teams of divers assisted by drones and a boat of the firefighters.
These festivals considered one of the largest popular rallies in Europe, welcome each year around a million people for five days in the streets of the Basque city.
Many precedents at Bayonne celebrations
The municipality of Bayonne has recently been looking to lower the attendance of this event, after two deadly dramas during previous editions.
In 2024, a man died during an altercation near the bus station, and in 2023, a resident of the city center had been killed, beaten by people to whom he reproached for having urinated on the door of his home.
A thousand police officers and rescuers were deployed, this year again, to secure the perimeter of the festivities.
