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The alert to bays, triggered on Saturday August 20, was serious. Several bathers on the main beach of Biarritz (Pyrenees-Atlantiques) therefore almost paid for it with their lives, torn from the ocean in extremis by the rescuers.
The police helicopter is approaching. The sea is rough. A diver jumps from the device, equips one of the swimmers in distress, off the beach of Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). He was airlifted a few seconds later to return to the coast. In front of dozens of tourists, the operation, Saturday August 20, is successful. It is renewed a second time a few minutes later.
A 20-year-old young man is among those swept away. “I turned towards the beach, I saw that I was really very far, and that I probably couldn’t come back because there were very strong currents”, says Paul Prétéché. A total of 18 people were trapped by the currents. Some were carried more than 800 meters from the beach, they were all rescued, in conditions “very dangerous”according to the rescuers.
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