Drama in an abandoned factory in the Loire: what is urbex, this practice which has more and more followers?

“In terms of safety, you have to be very vigilant. If you don’t pay attention to a hole in a floor and there are three or four of us, everyone falls. It’s stupid things but it happens regularly”. It was in 2020. A fan of urbex, a discipline already in full expansion, confided to Midi Libre about the risks of the practice.

Four years later, a tragedy in the Loire, which occurred this Saturday, April 27, reminds us that the practice remains dangerous. A 15-year-old girl died after falling through the roof of an abandoned factory, her 17-year-old friend who was with her was seriously injured. A week earlier, the body of a 19-year-old young man was found at the foot of a building in Lyon in the early morning: according to the first elements of the investigation, he wanted to photograph the sunrise from the roof.

Popularized around the 2010s

In the cases, the victims practiced urbex, an English contraction of urban exploration. “The name comes from the United States, where there were photographers who did just that,” explained our witness again in 2020. If the practice was born in the 1980s, it really became popular in France around the 2010s.

Places abandoned by man or prohibited from access

The activity consists of visiting places built and abandoned by man. Some explorers also seek to visit forbidden, hidden or difficult-to-access places, such as subway tunnels, catacombs, construction sites, or even the tops of buildings or monuments.

“Abandoned places offer photographers more than original and improbable shots. These urban photos are the ultimate objective of explorers, and they take all the risks to achieve the perfect shot”, recently detailed the online magazine specializing in graphic cultures, Carré Rouge. In books, on websites, or on numerous dedicated accounts on social networks, we can indeed see impressive photos.

“Just for the thrill”

But there is the other side of the coin. These publications dedicated to urbex have for several years encouraged many young people to take up the practice to imitate their favorite influencers. “Sometimes, just for the thrill of discovering a place where no one goes,” still indicates Carré Rouge. On the web, there is even a business that has developed, since it is possible to buy maps, department by department, which identify the most unusual abandoned places. Occitanie is not immune to the fashion phenomenon.

With this limit: new enthusiasts do not always understand the safety measures to take to practice urbex. News items are fortunately not frequent, but they do occur from time to time, as was unfortunately the case twice in recent days in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes. It must be said that the spots are often dilapidated and therefore sometimes lead to falls, explosions or even collapses.

An illegal practice

You should also know that urbex is a practice by definition illegal. “Abandoned places are not in reality: they are in joint ownership or have fallen into the public domain”, indicated our practitioner again in 2020. She, moreover, tended to carry out her explorations at nightfall, to minimize the risks of encounters. Because article 226-4 of the Penal Code thus punishes “the entry into the home of another using maneuvers, threats, assault or coercion, except in cases where the law allows it” one year’s imprisonment and a fine of €15,000. Article 322-1 of the same code specifies that “the destruction, damage or deterioration of property belonging to another is punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of €30,000, unless only slight damage results”.

Vigilance

But the biggest risk remains the accident, as the tragedy in the Loire sadly reminded us. Urbex enthusiasts are therefore advised to never explore alone, to be properly equipped, with suitable shoes and clothing, and above all, to be attentive throughout the exploration.