Following a new call from the CROSS des Antilles-Guyane, on November 30 at 19 p.m., concerning a distress rocket sighted between Pinel islet and Orient Bay, the SNSM of Saint-Martin was preparing to take to sea with a team of volunteer rescuers on Friday evening when the gendarmes finally determined that the shot came from a residence on the ground.
And the sea trip was canceled. Not even a week after our last night outing of 4 and a half hours of fruitless searches at sea, following 4 distress rocket fire, southwest of Anguilla, and where large means of rescue (three boats, a helicopter) and a Falcon 250 aircraft) had been deployed for nothing, it was still a false alarm.
The SNSM therefore reminds for the umpteenth time that the hand flares or red rockets must be used ONLY IN THE EVENT OF REAL DISTRESS.
If you launch a rocket “accidentally” or “by mistake”, at least have the reflex and the decency to immediately notify the CROSS AG (to 196) or the Gendarmerie (to 17) to say that there is no distress, in order to avoid unnecessarily mobilizing emergency resources and being prosecuted.
Indeed, it should be recalled 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 up to 30 € of fine and two years imprisonment.
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