The fall of blocks of stones caused the death of two people on the RN 205 in Haute-Savoie, this Wednesday, August 20 in the evening. The four occupants of the vehicle were a couple and their child, accompanied by his girlfriend. The latter, born in 2002 and located at the back of the car, died during this violent drama.
A landslide left two dead and two injured, one seriously, on the RN 205 in Haute-Savoie this Wednesday, August 20 in the evening. A block of stone fell on a car while the road is glued to the rocky wall.
• A family on vacation, two dead and two injured
The fall of the stones block left two dead and two injured this Wednesday, August 20, in the evening, on the RN 205 in the Chamonix-Passy direction. Four people were on board the vehicle that was crushed by a rock when it was traveling on this road.
Three of them were part of the same family and were from Oisemont in the Somme. The parents were at the front of the car and the couple’s son accompanied by their girlfriend at the back.
“Back from the Merlet animal park in the town of Houches, their vehicle was traveling on the RN205 when a rocky block crashed on the back of the vehicle,” said a press release from the prosecution.
The two young people, located at the rear and born in 2002, died. The 54 -year -old car driver was seriously injured, said a source from the gendarmerie in BFMTV. He was transported to Annecy hospital while his wife, she slightly injured, was transported on the side of the Sallanches hospital according to the public prosecutor.
“The criminal identification cell was transported to the site to make the first observations,” said the latter.
• “A dramatic accident”
The prefecture of Haute-Savoie, which recommended “to avoid the sector” Wednesday evening, also explained in a statement that “the emergency services quickly arrived”. 50 firefighters intervene “in difficult conditions”, according to the president of the firefighters Martial Saddier. Deploring a “dramatic accident” on BFMTV, he specified that “rescue operations are not yet finished”.
The gendarmes of the Departmental Road Safety Squadron (EDSR) of Haute-Savoie made the first observations with the affected vehicle, in order to know the configuration of the accident: vehicle position, impacts, rocks across the road, vehicle speed, etc.
A survey in search of the causes of death was opened and entrusted to the Chamonix research brigade.
• Reopened traffic, the Mont Blanc tunnel accessible to heavy goods vehicles
Traffic between Chamonix and Passy was interrupted, before This is “reopened”.
“The crossing of the Mont Blanc tunnel has been possible again since 10:30 p.m. for heavy goods vehicles from Italy,” the local authorities said in the evening, which warn that “the starting area for the fall of the blocks is still unstable”.
After the landslide, a pghm helicopter (high mountain gendarmerie peloton) immediately took off from Chamonix to fly over the rocky heights. The objective: to check if other pieces are likely to fall or have fallen. This recognition was carried out very quickly, before the device disengagement.
In order to restore traffic to Geneva/Mâcon, the ATMB teams (motorways and Mont-Blanc tunnel, editor’s note) had initially proceeded to the double direction of the Egratz viaduct, limited to 50km/h.
• 18,000 vehicles per day, a very borrowed axis
The RN 205 is a double -track road in the direction of the descent and the climb, the extension of the A41 motorway which stops in Passy. The place where the accident took place in the area where the two roads are separated. The climb to Chamonix is ​​done by a viaduct and the descending road, where the accident took place, is glued to the rocks.
The road axis is very borrowed, in summer and in winter, whether for winter sports or for access to Italy with the Mont Blanc tunnel. The town hall of Chamonix mentioned in September 2024 a number of 18,000 vehicles passing on this road every day. “We are between 4,000 and 5,000 vehicles each day for the home-work trip, but we can go up to 20,000 in August,” confirms the deputy (horizons) of Haute-Savoie Xavier Roseren.
“It is a very watched road, among the safest with safety nets almost everywhere. In a second loan it would have been only a hanging. We are really dealing with a life hazard, an isolated block which stands out. This may multiply due to the destabilization of the rocky mantle with global warming,” continues the latter with bfmtv.com.
This is not the first time that a landslide has been on this road and many works have been carried out at the very place of the drama. A road axis, which has long been closed to traffic, in particular the part concerned by the drama from 2019 to 2021, as the messenger noted at the time.
The ATMB teams are also derived in the surrounding area “to reduce certain curvatures imposed by the side of the mountain”.
