A man aged around thirty died on the morning of Sunday May 12 of a cardio-respiratory arrest during an undeclared rave party organized since Thursday in Parnay, near Saumur, announced the prefecture of Maine-et-Loire in a press release. A judicial investigation has been opened to determine the circumstances of his death, on which no information has been communicated at this stage.
The undeclared rave party was over by midday on Sunday and many participants had already left the site. Some 10,000 revelers, according to the prefecture, came from all over France to take part in this event which took local authorities by surprise, despite a prefectural decree prohibiting festive gatherings during the Ascension Bridge long weekend. .
The prefecture of Maine-et-Loire notably denounced the absence of sanitary facilities and access to drinking water on the site, a private agricultural land lost in the middle of the vineyards on the edge of a wood. Friday afternoon, more than twenty-four hours after the arrival of the first revelers, the local authorities had to install a temporary water point, noted a journalist from Agence France- Press (AFP).
Two hundred people taken care of by rescuers
The organizers had not provided toilets either, according to the prefecture. “They go into the woods,” explained the sub-prefect of Saumur, Christophe Carol, recalling that the organizers of the event “have obligations” as with any other event open to the public. “Contrary to what I sometimes hear, this type of musical gathering can absolutely be authorized, but it must be declared and organized,” he insisted.
The authorities were also concerned about access difficulties for emergency vehicles. The gendarmes, firefighters and civil security had, however, managed to “protect a red axis” allowing the evacuation of emergencies and around thirty rescuers were permanently mobilized on the site. By midday on Sunday, around two hundred people had been treated by the rescuers and firefighters present on the site, and at least ten were transported to hospital, Mr. Carol told AFP.
The latter also assured that “the sanctions will fall”. According to the sub-prefect, all participants leaving the rave party site are checked by the gendarmes deployed on site and will be fined, in particular for participation in an illegal gathering.
