This Monday, June 10, at 3:30 p.m., the high mountain gendarmerie platoon (PGHM) of Jausiers was called for reinforcement by the firefighters to intervene following a kayaking accident on the Ubaye river, in the Gleizolles sector, in the town of Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye.
As part of a group of friends, a 72-year-old Irishman turned around and was unable to get out of his boat or perform the skimming technique. Although the victim’s companions tried to resuscitate him, the two PGHM rescuers and the doctor on board the Choucas 04 helicopter could only note the death of the British kayaker by drowning.
Not the first kayaker to die of drowning on the Ubaye
The PGHM therefore airlifted the body to the Barcelonnette funeral home, and was entrusted with the investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the death, even if everything suggests that it was a tragic accident. .
That being said, “the water level is currently high with the melting of the snow, and the storms that occurred on Sunday evening. There are also a lot of tree trunks in the river following the floods last December, which represents a real danger for practitioners.“, confides a whitewater sports professional.
A danger which therefore became fatal for this Irishman who is, unfortunately, not the first victim on the Ubaye River. She was in fact bereaved on several occasions, notably in Méolans-Revel. In May 2011, a kayaker from the Drôme also overturned and was unable to return to shore, carried away by the current.
