‘No trace’: 7 missing in France, including 2 children, after floods snare cars
- Violent storms swept the south of the country with most of the missing believed to have been swept away in vehicles on flooded bridges
- The missing include children aged four and 13 and their father, who were trying to drive across a bridge over the river Gardon. The youngsters’ mother was rescued.
French rescuers were on Sunday searching for seven people, including two children, missing after violent storms swept the south of the country with most believed to have been swept away in cars on flooded bridges.
A family of four, including two children aged four and 13, was caught in the floods while trying late on Saturday evening to drive across a bridge over the river Gardon in the village of Dions, north of the city of Nimes, the prefecture said.
The father and the two children were still missing but the mother, 40, who was also in the car, was found by rescuers and taken to hospital, it added.
In Dions on Sunday a helicopter flew over the village and the bursting waters of the Gardon while large numbers of firefighters engaged in search efforts, helped by drones and dogs. The bridge was still submerged.
Rescuers were also searching for two women, believed to be aged 47 and 50, who made an emergency call on a bridge in the town of Goudargues to the north before contact was lost.
Another driver, of Belgian nationality, was also missing and feared to have been swept away from a bridge in the village of Gagnieres also in the Gard department. The road had been closed and a policeman had told the driver not to drive on the bridge, officials said.