Overview

• Around 30 volunteers set out from Grand-Fort-Philippe Monday afternoon following a social media appeal to find the ten-year-old swept away on August 2 at the jetée des Huttes.
• Official multi-agency operations—including Marine Nationale helicopter patrols, fire service boats, an SNSM vessel, SAMU, police units and drone teams—were suspended around 19:45 on Saturday with the child still unaccounted for.
• An enquiry for disparition inquiétante was opened at the Dunkerque police station to determine the circumstances of the boy’s disappearance.
• The jetée des Huttes swimming area remains unsupervised and is prone to strong currents where warm nuclear plant cooling waters meet the colder North Sea.
• Two other children, aged ten and thirteen, were rescued and treated for minor injuries at Dunkerque hospital after being swept off the jetty.