A local resident was able to save a motorist who fell in the Adour this Wednesday, December 8, in Saint-Barthélémy, in the south of the Landes department. Because of hail who had just fallen on the road, this 51-year-old woman lost control of her vehicle, rushing straight into the Adour. Once in the water, she managed to get out of her car, going through the window. But then impossible for her to regain the bank alone, the currents were too strong and the water icy. It was then that a local resident intervened.
I saw something that was floating
“I was doing wood chores and I heard screams“confides this man, who wished to remain anonymous. He lives on an island on the Adour, located in Urt (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), opposite the town of Saint-Barthélémy (Landes). At that time, he did not doesn’t know exactly what’s going on, he hasn’t seen anything, he doesn’t even know that a car has fallen into the water, because it is already submerged. But he sees movements that intrigue him : “I saw something that floated, that plunged and came out of the water, like a bottle which, half-submerged, comes out from time to time and plunges again, I was a hundred leagues from understanding that it was a body.“As he lives on an island, he has a boat, which he immediately uses to go and see what’s going on, intrigued.”When I got close, I saw that it was hair that I saw, which went up and down.”
He then throws two buoys in the direction of the victim, but the latter, exhausted, cannot seize them. The rescuer approaches, but cannot get her on board. He then decides to transport the victim, still in the water, by pulling her. “With my right hand, I held his shoulder, and with my left hand, I maneuvered my boat closer to the shore.“With two other people, he then managed to get this woman out of the water and place her on a pontoon. In a state of hypothermia, she was then taken in by the emergency services. The news since then is very good, she is out of danger. “I could very well have not been there, not been available, not hearing the screams, it’s something incredible“confides this hero for a day.