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A spectacular accident occurred early yesterday evening, Saturday December 21, in Anse des Cayes. A twenty-meter-long tender, affiliated to a yacht moored in Gustavia harbor, ended what must have been a wild ride on the rocks at the tip of Anse des Cayes, on the Anse des Lézards coast. Six of the eleven American occupants were taken to the Irénée de Bruyn hospital, including one victim who was ejected from the boat when it hit land. Severely injured in the face, she is due to be flown to Miami on Sunday. For her young comrades, there will be no Sunday festivities, but hearings at the Saint-Barthélemy gendarmerie brigade.
A hazardous navigation
For the time being, no official statement has been made as to the circumstances of the accident. However, JSB has been able to gather testimonies from people who spotted the tender and its occupants in the bay of Saint-Jean in the late afternoon, after dark. Clearly, the party was in full swing among the small band of young tourists. The boat's pilot was also in a playful mood, as a video filmed from Saint-Jean beach shows the tender jerking forward, bumping into buoys and hitting the sand. After picking up a passenger who had evidently been left behind, the vessel painstakingly made a U-turn before weaving in the dark between buoys and boats, finally leaving the bay, propelled by its four engines. What happened next? Sunday's hearings will no doubt provide some explanations.
"An enormous noise
In any case, for a reason yet to be clarified, the person at the tender's controls (reportedly a member of the yacht's crew, according to our information) ended up sending his vessel onto the rocks of Anse des Cayes Bay. I was at home and heard a huge noise," explains a local resident. I thought two cars had collided."
Quickly alerted, the Service territorial d'incendie et de secours intervened on the scene. Some twenty firefighters were dispatched to the scene. In addition to the "classic" intervention vehicle, three Stis ambulances were also present. The gendarmerie also arrived as reinforcements, followed by Smur (Structures mobiles d'urgence et de réanimation). With the boat stranded some 250 metres from the road, the Stis teams had to transport the equipment needed to rescue the eleven occupants of the tender on foot. Five were slightly injured, but as mentioned above, one of the passengers was ejected when the boat hit the rocks. Her condition forced the firefighters to wrap her in survival gear before carrying her at arm's length on a stretcher.
Many local residents left their homes to observe the rescue operation. With traffic blocked by the gendarmerie and the Stis, other residents are waiting to leave Anse des Lézards, on the one hand, or to be allowed through to their homes, on the other. Sitting on a low wall, the occupants of the damaged tender, dressed in swimming gear, are disorientated, dazed and stunned. While the seriously injured victim was quickly transported to Gustavia hospital, his fellow party-goers remained on site for a long time. Not only to regain their composure, but also to answer questions from the fire department and gendarmes. Surprisingly, it was the vehicle that was supposed to provide the shuttle service between Saint-Jean and La Pointe for the Christmas Village that was requisitioned to take charge of the shipwrecked men. The operation was not completed until 10 pm.
Emergency call-out of hospital staff
At the hospital, where some of the staff had been urgently recalled (to devote themselves to their task until over1 a.m.), the occupants of the grounded vessel were tested for alcohol and drugs. However, according to our information, the intervention of an American lawyer within the health establishment prevented the medical teams from carrying out the tests on the tender's pilot. Supported by his counsel, the man refused to undergo these "routine" post-accident examinations. Further details will be provided in a forthcoming publication.
Regarding the tender stranded on the rocks, no risk of pollution has been identified. Consequently, its removal is not urgent. This operation will have to be carried out by the owner, after contacting his insurance company. For the time being, the yacht to which the tender is attached is still moored in Gustavia harbour.
