Overview

• Fourteen- and 15-year-olds were part of a group of about 15 boys swimming in an isolated, forbidden section of the Loire near Unieux.
• One teenager drowned while trying to save his friend who struggled to return to shore after leaping from a rock.
• Sapeurs-pompiers retrieved the victims at 7 m and 10 m depths and alerted SAMU, but one boy was unresponsive on site and the other died en route by helicopter.
• The prefect of Loire expressed profound sorrow and warned that swimming without proper precautions can have fatal consequences.
• CHU de Saint-Étienne has established a psychological support cell to aid those affected by the tragedy.