A road drama in the Basque Country this Saturday, April 16. Four young Périgourdins, aged 20 and 21, died in a car accident in downtown Bayonne. Two of them are from the village of Carsac-Aillac, in Sarladais. “It’s terrible, it’s a tragedy”, says the mayor of the town, Patrick Bonnefon, who knew the two young people. According to him, the young people were on the weekend at the ham fair, a festive event organized in Bayonne.
Around 5:30 a.m., their vehicle hit a palm tree head-on on a central reservation of the National 8010, avenue du Maréchal Soult, in the Biarritz-Bayonne direction. Under the violence of the shock, the four occupants became trapped inside the cabin.
The speeding thesis
When the firefighters arrived, three young people had already died. The emergency services took a fourth passenger out of the car, in cardio-respiratory arrest. He died a few minutes later. The mayor of Bayonne Jean-René Etchegaray advances the thesis of speedinggiven the state of the vehicle after the accident, completely crushed.
“The impact was very strong”, confirms the sub-prefect of Bayonne Philippe Le Moing-Surzur. An investigation is opened by the public prosecutor of Bayonne, who went on the spot. A witness attended the scene but he has not yet been heard by the investigators, he is in a state of shock.