French rower’s body not recovered, a day after he ‘had been found dead in his boat’
- ‘The search ended at the end of the day yesterday without it being possible to find the victim,’ said a statement from the Portuguese navy
- Jean-Jacques Savin’s support team had said the Portuguese coastguard located his overturned boat and a diver had found Savin’s body inside the cabin on Saturday
The body of the French adventurer trying to row across the Atlantic has not been recovered, the Portuguese navy said on Sunday, a day after his support team said he had been found dead in his boat.
“The search ended at the end of the day yesterday (Saturday) without it being possible to find the victim,” said a statement from the navy on the search for 75-year-old Jean-Jacques Savin.
Questioned by Agence France-Presse, a navy spokesman said that during the rescue operation, the team had had “strong reasons to believe that a body could be inside” the cabin of Savin’s vessel, the Audacieux.
The navy’s statement contradicts Saturday’s message from the team that was backing Savin in his trans-Atlantic bid.
They said the Portuguese coastguard had located his overturned boat off the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores on Friday and that on Saturday, a diver had found Savin’s body inside the cabin.
Savin, an avid triathlete, set off from mainland Portugal’s southern tip on January 1.