four dead, including three young people, in a Tesla which caught fire after an accident in Celles-sur-Belle

Four people lost their lives in a road accident, Saturday October 12, 2024, around 10:30 p.m., on the Celles-sur-Belle ring road. All were in an electric car, a Tesla, which burst into flames following an accident.

Among the victims were three young people aged 16, 21 and 27, all employees of the L’Argentière restaurant in Melle where the team was wiped out.

“They left at the end of the service to go for a walk”

“It’s a disaster, we’re lost… I see their cars in the parking lot…” testifies the day after the tragedy, Daniel Mautret, the owner of the restaurant, inconsolable. “They had been debauching for twenty minutes. They left after the end of the service to go for a ride with a customer friend who has an electric car. »

Among these three young people, there was “a little apprentice hired since the 1^is September, the new chef who had been there for two years but who had spent four years with us and a young pastry chef hired two weeks ago. All from here. What pearls! It was a pleasure to work with them…” The boss was at the restaurant Sunday morning waiting for news from the families.

In such circumstances, the activity of the restaurant, closed, seemed very secondary. “We don’t know how we’re going to do it… We don’t have the courage to have people over for a party. I haven’t even had the strength to call people yet…”, said Daniel Mautret shortly before 10 a.m.

“When I arrived, the car was on fire”

One of the deputies of the mayor of Celles-sur-Belle went to the scene around midnight. “When I arrived, the car was on fire. There were police and fire engines everywhere. It was on the ring road, just after the Périgné bridge. They were going from Melle towards Niort. It appears they hit the embankment and crossed the road,” indicated Frédéric Berthonneau.

“At this location, I believe it is the first time that there has been an accident of this type. It’s very wide,” he observed, touched by this dramatic accident and for the entire grieving restaurant team.