Suspected 2nd WW mine explodes on beach in Brest

Posted on September 7, 2014 by bill

Explosion mortelle sur une plage de jeunes campeurs à Groix. Fatal explosion on a beach with young campers.

par Cécile Mimaut dimanche 7 septembre 2014.
île de Groix
Le groupe de jeunes campeurs était arrivé sur l’île de Groix samedi soir. Photo d’illutsrtaion © Maxppp. A group of young campers had arrived on the island on Saturday evening.

Un jeune homme est mort et un autre a été grièvement blessé dans une explosion cette nuit sur une plage de l’île de Groix, où ils faisaient du camping. Un obus de la Seconde Guerre mondiale pourrait être en cause.

A young man was killed and another was seriously injured in an explosion during the night on the island of Groix, while they were camping. A Second WW shell could be the cause.

L’explosion s’est produite vers 2h du matin dimanche.  Une dizaine de jeunes âgés d’une vingtaine d’années est alors installée autour d’un feu de camp sur la plage rouge de l’île de Groix, dans le Morbihan, où ils étaient arrivés la veille par bateau pour faire du camping. L’un d’eux, un jeune homme, est décédé. Un autre est gravement blessé. Les huit autres sont sous le choc.
The explosion occured about 02h00 on Sunday morning. About ten young people in their 20s were around a camp fire on the island beach, in Morbhan (Brest NW France), where they had arrived on Saturday evening to camp. One of two, a young man, has died. The other is seriously injured. The other eight are being treated for shock. 

Des démineurs sur place. (Bomb disposal experts have arrived)

On ne connaît pas encore ce qui a provoqué la déflagration, mais l’une des hypothèses évoquée est la présence, sous le feu de camp, d’un explosif de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, qui serait arrivé là par la mer. Des démineurs de Brest ont été appelés sur place.
The cause of the explosion is not yet known, but one hypothesis is there was a 2nd WW explosive under the camp fire and that it had been washed up. Brest bomb disposal experts were called to the scene. 
Extra info: A 2nd WW mine was discovered and disposed off in the port of Cherbourg some weeks ago.

About bill

Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer. The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013. Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI. Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug 2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website. But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien. The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50. Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea. Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.