The search resumed on Wednesday to find the bodies of the occupants of a passenger plane which crashed the day before in a marshy area in Lavau-sur-Loire (Loire-Atlantique), including the television journalist Gérard Leclerc who was in command.
The gendarmes blocked the access leading to the search area, preventing journalists from arriving in sight of the marshes lined with high reeds where debris from the plane was found late Tuesday afternoon, several hours after its disappearance. radar screens.
Members of the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), which conducts a technical investigation in parallel with the judicial investigations, were present on the spot, noted an AFP journalist.
The Robin DR 400 plane took off Tuesday at 11:07 a.m. from Loudun aerodrome (Vienne) bound for La Baule (Loire-Atlantique).
“On board were a pilot and one or two passengers, this information remains to be confirmed,” added a press release from the Saint-Nazaire prosecutor’s office released overnight, without citing any identity.
The Loire-Atlantique prefecture initially spoke of three people on board.
Michèle Monory, daughter of former minister and Senate President René Monory, and a friend of hers were on board, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.
The plane, which belonged to the Loudun flying club, was piloted by 71-year-old Gérard Leclerc.
He was to attend a concert given by his half-brother Julien Clerc in La Baule on Thursday, colleagues and relatives said on his CNews channel on Wednesday.
The Canal group, to which CNews belongs, deplored on Tuesday evening on X (ex-Twitter) the death of the journalist in the accident and paid tribute to him, followed by many personalities from the media or the political world.
At 11.37 a.m., the pilot of the plane had announced to the Nantes airport control tower that he was entering Saint-Nazaire airspace, but he gave no other sign.
“It did not transmit any distress message. The available flight data allow the flight path to be followed until 11:42 am, when it disappeared from radar. It was then located near Lavau-sur-Loire” , continues the press release from the Saint-Nazaire prosecutor’s office.
The alert was given and the first plane debris was “spotted in the canals, including a wheel and a piece of registration”.
“Despite the search, no body was found,” said the prosecution on Tuesday evening.
“This research is made particularly difficult because the plane was submerged several meters in an area subject to very strong currents, and in which visibility for divers is almost zero,” he explained.
A television figure, Gérard Leclerc began his career as a radio journalist, on Europe 1 (1978-85) then RMC (1985) before spending three decades in public service.
He then became one of the famous faces of Antenne 2, then France 2, chaining prestigious positions there.
Gérard Leclerc then became editor-in-chief of the political, economic and social service at France 3 (2007-09) before being appointed president of La Chaîne Parlementaire-Assemblée Nationale (LCP-AN) (2009-15). He was since 2017 columnist on CNews.
The journalist was married to Julie Leclerc (Chantal Séloron in the city), historic voice of Europe 1 for almost 50 years, with whom he had three children.
He was also the younger brother of the artist Julien Clerc (Paul-Alain Leclerc of his real name), born of the same father, whose concert is scheduled at a festival in La Baule on Thursday evening.
“I think he will sing,” assured the singer and composer Didier Barbelivien, who said he spoke Tuesday evening with Julien Clerc.
“I think that would have been Gérard’s wish, he had come to hear his brother sing,” continued Didier Barbelivien, who had known Mr. Leclerc since adolescence.
08/16/2023 13:26:45 – Lavau-sur-Loire (France) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
