Should we secure the banks of the Seine?

Tuesday October 15, 2024, a body matching the description of Owen, 19, was found near Rouen (Seine-Maritime). Did the young man who disappeared ten days earlier leaving a nightclub on the banks of the Seine accidentally fall into the water? Should we secure the platforms to prevent these tragedies?

11 days ago, Owen Cerf, 19, disappeared leaving So, a nightclub located on the quays of Rouen (Seine-Maritime). Tuesday October 15, 2024, a body matching its description was found in the Seine. The 1^is Last January, a young 22-year-old Euroise drowned in a pool in the port of Le Havre; she had an accidental fall on New Year’s Eve.

Each accident leads to the same reflection: how to secure the surroundings of waterways, particularly in ports?

In Rouen, no particular security device is installed on the quays, where restaurants, bars and clubs abound. An element that makes many Internet users react on social networks. “If the teenager had been drinking, an accident quickly happened“, laments one of them, following Owen’s disappearance.

“How many kids will we have to pick up so that safety barriers are finally installed on the banks of the Seine? reacted another. It can’t continue like this!” “We want to develop the banks of the river, making them spaces for walking. So let’s secure them. In the evening, the platforms are not lit, you may not be able to see the edge clearly… You absolutely have to wear something.“

On Facebook, a last one underlines: “Too many sordid things happen outside clubs or bars. We know how to build an XXL Panorama for I don’t know how many millions of euros, but securing human life is something else. The City of Rouen may need to wake up and review its priorities.“

Reinforced video surveillance and lighting, security barriers, ladders, life buoys… If solutions do indeed exist, they do not depend on the City of Rouen, which logically refuses to comment. On the dock side, the area in fact belongs to Haropa Port.

It is this element which complicates things, as confided by the manager of an establishment located on the right bank quays, who wishes to remain anonymous. “This is not new. From the moment the town hall manages the infrastructure, a private company the parking lot, Haropa the docks… Everyone passes the buck.“, he denounces.

In addition to personal accidents,we had car thefts, breakagesindicates the restaurateur. We set up a group from different establishments on the docks and asked for a meeting with Haropa, but it didn’t work. We try to continue to do prevention each on our own, we don’t serve alcohol to alcoholic people… But we didn’t need that.“

The big complexity is that we are located next to one of the biggest nightclubs in Rouen. I often find corpses of bottles or other substances consumed at parties, in the parking lot, in front of the steps.

An establishment manager on the docks

at France 3 Normandy

Director of Brasserie H9, located in the same hangar as So, Olivier Matte agrees and points out the lack of security arrangements: “There is nothing at all. Between the motorcycles and scooters that pass without any control, the children who can escape… Near the platforms, an accident can happen very quickly, and it always happens at the wrong time.”

He believes that deploying a security system can only be virtuous, even if it is important to make the public responsible: “We never do enough of prevention. Barriers would be very good, even if that’s not everything.“

On the Left Bank too, the installation of barriers on the quays convinces restaurateurs, in particular to ensure the safety of revelers who use them at night. “It’s a question of security, especially in front of bars and nightclubs.”we assure in an establishment of Hangar 105, with a nuance: “I’m not sure that it would bring us more people, it mainly concerns the night bars.“

Its manager believes, however, that the lack of security at the platforms is not the only problem. There remain bridges and roads, where accessibility is not easy for pedestrians.

“On the left bank side, we were sold Hangar 105 as the future showcase of the eco-district, and nothing, neither public transport, shuttles or parking, has been put in place to facilitate the arrival of Rouen residents from a shore to the other. We asked to secure the William the Conqueror Bridge so that pedestrians could cross without fear of heavy goods vehicles… Everything was refused to us.“

For drinking establishments, it is prohibited to serve alcohol to people who are clearly drunk, under penalty of a fine of 750 euros. And if gray areas still surround the disappearance of young Owen, in Rouen, the falls of people in the water often remain linked to alcohol and partying, in cities where places of conviviality are located close to the basins or river banks, such as the Seine or the Orne.

In Le Havre, the bars are mostly located in the city center. But the nightclubs are located in the Eure district. You then have to walk along the bridges and ponds to hope to prolong the evening.

In addition to the death of the young woman from Pîtres (Eure) on 1^is Last January, between March 2017 and June 2018, five people died in the Le Havre basins, in similar circumstances.

Also read: After the drowning of a young woman in Le Havre, the safety of the pools in question

In Caen, a 22-year-old young man was found dead in July 2021 on the banks of the Orne, under the Bir-Hackeim bridge. Having fallen into the water on July 11, his body was found five days later.

Although the municipality did not consider it necessary to secure the banks of the Orne, in 2015 it installed safety guardrails in the port of Caen, after the drowning of five people in previous years.

In the Cité Océane, the basins (commerce basin, Roy basin, Anse Notre-dame basin, Vatine basin and Southampton quay) are now secured by lifebuoys, in the absence of guardrails. .

On the quays of Rouen, lifebuoys and ladders are present every 100 meters, as well as “No swimming” signs. Would a system of barriers be possible? Contacted, Haropa Port indicates that it is “particularly touched by this dramatic accident and joins in the family’s pain” d’Owen Cerf.

Haropa Port, however, recalls that “the vast majority of ports in the world have no barriers” and discusses the difficulties they could cause for the docking of numerous river boats.

The question of securing the quays of the Seine arises at each Armada. “This had been the subject of a safety study which had not validated the barriers,” indicates Haropa Port.

“Barriers had indeed been imagined but a study had shown that in the event of a crowd movement, the barriers would be worse,” remembers Philippe Chastres, vice-president of the Armada.

In the absence of barriers, the installation of lights, guardrails or even the launch of a prevention campaign can be imagined. This dramatic accident will certainly be an opportunity to launch a reflection on the subject.