“You will have to be very careful and stay in supervised swimming areas,” warns the mayor of Lacanau of the risk of bathing

The beaches of southwest France, on the coast of New Aquitaine, were placed on maximum alert on Sunday and Monday for the risk of formation of baïnes.

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A display panel "Swimming prohibited, Baïnes" on the beach of Grand-Crohot near Lège-Cap-Ferret on June 26, 2017. (OLIVIER MORIN / AFP)

“The risk of baïnes will be very high, you will have to be very careful and stay in supervised swimming areas, you must swim between the flags on the beach”alert Saturday June 22 on franceinfo Laurent Peyrondet, Modem mayor of Lacanau in Gironde.

The beaches of the South-West are on maximum alert in Baïnes from Sunday June 23 and until Monday June 24 due to strong sea currents which can carry bathers out to sea. “We have deployed rescue forces, a helicopter, which allows swimming in complete safety between the two flags in areas monitored by lifeguards”.

“The baïnes are a strong current that breaks free and takes you out to sea. If you have enough composure, you can let yourself be carried away and then leave again. But in general, people struggle, exhaust themselves and “You have to be very careful.”, warns the mayor of Lacanau. The bathers who allow themselves to be surprised are “those who swim three or four kilometers from the first aid stations” while there is “red flags marked “baïnes zones”. We must be extra vigilant”.

In 2023, fourteen bathers died in baths on the Atlantic coast, according to the Atlantic maritime prefecture. The 2024 season began with a first victim on April 14 in Cap-Ferret, in Gironde, when a forty-year-old died while swimming despite a maximum alert.


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