the essential
The father of Oscar Boutez, a 17-year-old player who was the only one to try to rescue Medhi Narjissi before his drowning in South Africa, spoke about this traumatic event, raising several questions.
For the first time, the father of Oscar Boutez, a 17-year-old rugby player playing in La Rochelle, testifies. On August 7, his son was the only one to rescue Medhi Narjissi, who was tragically swept away by the waves at Dias Beach, in South Africa. He recounted this traumatic event to Le Parisien.
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“There were a few of them having fun in the rollers while the session (recovery following training) had just ended” explains Oscar Boutez’s father. “After two or three minutes, they came out and it was there, as he was going to reach the beach, that Oscar saw Medhi struggling offshore. He rushed in, swam as he knows how to do , he took his friend on his back. But the waves were impressive.
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He too could have lost a son, whom Jalil Narjissi, Medhi’s father, describes as “a hero.” “He found himself half knocked out at the bottom of the water. Medhi had disappeared. He returned to the beach with great difficulty” relates father Edouard Boutez, who also questions the fact that his son was the the only one to have tried to help Medhi Narjissi that day: “No adult intervened, they all stayed on the beach because they were afraid. This obviously raises questions.”
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Since the tragedy, Oscar Boutez has been followed by a psychologist. “As soon as we found him, after their repatriation the next day, we kept him with us for three days,” explains Edouard Boutez. “With his mother Isabelle, we wanted him to talk, not to keep everything for him. It did him good” explains his father. The young player is also trying to rebuild himself through rugby. Last weekend, he played his first match since the accident, with La Rochelle against Vannes, in the French Crabos championship. “I want people to see me as a rugby player, to talk about what I do on the field and not just through this story,” he asks.
