“He had just celebrated his birthday”: who were the five victims of the road tragedy in Gaillac?

Five shattered lives, destroyed families, two traumatized neighborhoods and many more questions. Sunday, around 4:45 a.m., emergency services were called for a road accident on the RD 988, at the Gaillac exit, towards Lisle-sur-Tarn. On site, they found a vehicle on fire with four people burned inside. A fifth person, ejected from the car and who was in cardiorespiratory arrest, died immediately.

Also read:
Five dead in a dramatic road accident in Gaillac in Tarn, the victims charred

Although the investigation to identify the remains and the circumstances of the accident is likely to be long, everyone in Gaillac knows the names of the victims. Imrane, Youssef, Anis and Lorenzo, four young men who lived in the Viars and Catalanis neighborhoods as well as in Brens. The last, Paolo, originally from Marseille, was living with his uncle in Rabastens. They were aged between 16 and 21. Youssef had celebrated his birthday the day before the tragedy, Imrane was to celebrate hers in a few days.

“News that traumatized everyone”

“This is news that traumatized everyone here, explain young people from the Viars district. Imrane, Youssef, Anis and Lorenzo, they were a group of friends. We saw them every day. We are all under the influence shock.”

News of this terrible road accident spread like wildfire on Sunday morning. “When the parents heard about the accident, they all went to the rooms to see if we had returned safely,” continue the young people gathered near the Lentajou city stadium. “That’s how we found out and how “We quickly understood who the victims were. The mothers were talking to each other. It's horrible. We quickly came to support the bereaved families.”

Also read:
Charred victims, shock of incredible violence… what we know about the road tragedy which cost the lives of 5 people in Tarn

They describe Imrane, Youssef, Anis, Lorenzo as “good guys”: “They had the joy of life, always smiling. We had set up a futsal association to which they belonged. We hardly knew Paolo. They worked They were all hard workers.”

An online prize pool for families

They even decided to launch an online fundraiser to support the families of Youssef, Imrane and Anis. Created on Sunday evening, the prize pool had already reached nearly €4,500 on Monday afternoon with more than 200 participants. “We will divide the amount into three, we try to be useful, it’s the least we can do.”

In Catalanis, it is the same feeling of disarray that hovers over the city. “Of course we are marked, very shocked even, testify two young people. We knew them all, they were a group of friends. We will help the families.” One of the two even says that the very morning of the tragedy, he was walking back from Lisle-sur-Tarn towards Gaillac on the fatal departmental road: “I would never have imagined that it was my colleagues inside the vehicle “.

Another was at Taillefer college with two of the victims. “It’s unimaginable to see guys of our age who we knew at school disappear,” he explains. “Especially in such appalling conditions.”