The sky is clear on this Thursday, July 1, 1999. 20 people enter the cable car at Saint-Etienne-en-Dévoluy (Hautes-Alpes) to work at the Pic de Bure, around 7:30 a.m.
The machine connects the village of more than 500 souls to the observatory of the Institute of Millimetric Radio Astronomy (Iram) at an altitude of 2,552 m. After beginning the most arduous climb, the cabin stops… and descends at full speed to the pylons, at 180 km/h according to experts. The policeman’s hat (attached between the tractor cable and the cabin, Editor’s note) is loose.
The fall is inevitable, at 80 meters high, the cabin falls. It causes the death of the twenty people on board. Emergency services, firefighters and police rush to the scene of the tragedy. The emergency services compare the accident to a plane crash.
“A catastrophe that will remain in the lives of these families”
“There were bodies and pieces of cabin scattered in every direction”according to the words of a rescuer reported in Provence July 2, 1999. Ministers Martine Aubry and Jean-Pierre Chevènement come to show their support. “It is the symbol of a catastrophe which will remain in the lives of these families and Dévoluy”assures Jean-Marie Bernard, former mayor of the village.
A tragic accident that happened 25 years ago. “Life goes on, but we don’t forget”, says Noëlle Tonda, president of the association of victims’ families. July 1st is “a day of pain and sorrow no matter what and wherever one is”, she regrets. She lost her little brother in the accident. Fabien Tonda worked in the construction company Charles Queyras. “He was a pyrotechnician, it was his last day of work”, recalls the older sister. He was 41 years old and left two children aged 9 and 14 behind. Noëlle Tonda fought alongside the victims’ families to obtain a trial.
