Distress rocket fire fired from the land at the origin of an important search device deployed for nothing in the bay of Grand-Case

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On Friday, December 25, a person saw two distress rockets off the bay of Grand Case and contacted the Saint-Martin gendarmerie to report this distress call from a navigator. The gendarmerie transfers this call to CROSS-AG (Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue in the Antilles-Guyana) at 19:57 p.m.

The witness having confirmed the direction of these rockets which he only saw in a downward trajectory, the CROSS-AG broadcasts a MAYDAY RELAI and calls at 20:22 p.m. the coordinator of the SNSM sea rescue station in Saint-Martin, to mobilize a team of volunteer rescuers in the area for investigation.

Five crew members quickly meet at the Fort Louis marina, set sail at 20:45 pm on their "Rescue Star" semi-rigid and arrive just before 21:00 pm in Grand Case Bay to begin the search for a possible sailor in difficulty.

The night is beautiful; there is good visibility but no boat is in the area where the witness had reported seeing the rockets falling (600 m from the shore).

After having looked for the coordinates transmitted by the CROSS-AG, the SNSM questioned more than ten boats at anchor which said either they had seen nothing, or that they were people celebrating on the beach.

On the return, the SNSM runs along the entire coast along the Bay of Grand Case then returns to the bay of Happy Bay to question a sailboat at anchor; but he saw nothing from where he is anchored.

It turns out that no ship is in trouble and presumably these rockets could have been fired from the shore.

 

SNSM files a complaint against X

It is therefore, once again, a false alarm by firing distress rockets. The CROSS-AG therefore gives freedom of maneuver to the Rescue Star, which returns to its berth in the Fort-Louis marina at 21 p.m. The volunteer team members, mobilized for nothing, can finally come back to their loved ones for this festive evening.

The next day, the resident of the SNSM station in Saint-Martin lodged a complaint against X with the Hope Estate gendarmerie, as he now does systematically following such false alerts.

As a warning to unconscious jokers, it should be remembered that, in accordance with art. 322-14 of the penal code, the fact of unnecessarily provoking the deployment of human and material rescue means can be worth to its author of up to 30 € of fine and two years imprisonment.

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