Thirteen people were injured, two of them seriously, when a metal structure fell on the crowd during the Christmas parade on Saturday, November 30.
Vanessa admits she thought about it all night. The manager of a restaurant located on Boulevard Fernand-Moureaux, in Trouville-sur-Mer (Calvados), was in the front row when a metal structure in the shape of a bird collapsed on the crowd gathered to attend the Christmas parade, Saturday November 30.
It was around 7 p.m. when the accident occurred. Vanessa remembers the scene on BFMTV. “It was very good, it was magnificent. And then suddenly, in the bend, the bird flipped and it caused the machine to tip over. Suddenly, it fell on the passers-by who were looking at the side of the parking lot. We heard screams, it was horrible. It was sad.
Auregann also saw the accident unfold before her eyes. “Suddenly, we didn't understand. The tank went up a small slope, around the bend. Everyone was shocked as soon as the tank fell. Everyone screamed in every direction.”
“Everyone was very shocked,” confirms Sylvie De Gaetano, the mayor of the town, on BFMTV. “I said myself this (Sunday) morning that it's a little complicated. In the action, it passes, the adrenaline, etc. And then the next morning, we realize even more.”
No vital prognosis involved
According to Christophe Pouverreau, Calvados firefighter, “some tried to hold back (the tank, editor's note). We are still on a motorized tank which is very heavy, which caused victims.”
In fact, 13 people – artists and spectators – were injured by the fall of this motorized tank belonging to the Planète Vapeur company. Among the victims, 11, including a child, suffered minor fractures. Two other people, on the other hand, are “very seriously injured” and have “open fractures”, according to the assessment provided by Sylvie De Gaetano.
Kept informed by the firefighters, the councilor specifies that none of the victims have a life-threatening condition. “The injured were transported by Samu doctors to the hospitals of Lisieux, Côte Fleurie, Caen and Le Havre,” she specifies, assuring them “everything [son] support and [sa] solidarity”.
An open investigation
In total, around fifty firefighters were mobilized, supported by the national police, the municipal police of Trouville-sur-Mer and the soldiers of the Sentinelle system.
A medico-psychological cell was opened for witnesses, like Denis, who “saw the tank lying on its side”. He put forward a hypothesis: “I think the problem is the height difference of the road. [Le char] took the turn too far inside and the whole structure collapsed to the side.”
“The reconnaissance has been done,” assures Sylvie De Gaetano at our microphone. “It’s a service. These are professionals who intervened in many cities. They recognized the places, etc., they knew exactly where they were going.” An investigation has been opened to determine “the circumstances” of the accident.
Marine Mulcey with Florian Bouhot
