a soldier from Finistère dies during an exercise in Tahiti

He killed himself while participating in a cohesion exercise. Marine rifleman Clément Elard died on Thursday, November 9, during a “hardening walk” in Hitiaa, on the island of Tahiti, reports Polynésie La 1ère. The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, expressed his “strong emotion” and sent his condolences to the family and brothers in arms of this first class quartermaster “died in service”.

The soldier was moving with eight other of his comrades when they found themselves in difficulty. The group then contacted emergency services and announced the disappearance of Clément Elard. Arriving on site, the rescuers spotted the missing person below a waterfall, hanging from a tree in a difficult to access place. The evacuation operation, which required the use of a helicopter, lasted two hours, before the doctor present from the emergency headquarters noted the soldier’s death.

Assigned to the Bernier marine rifle company in Lanvéoc (Finistère), Clément Elard was in French Polynesia as part of a short-term deployment, according to the French Navy. Aged 24, he was the captain of the Santec (Finistère) football team, which greeted “a model teammate, a golden guy, an invaluable friend”reports France 3 Bretagne.