A French court on Tuesday ordered the state to compensate the family of a 50-year-old man who died in 2016 during a run after inhaling poisonous gas emitted by rotting green algae piled along the country’s western coast.
The Nantes appeals court found France liable for the death of Jean-Rene Auffray, citing its “negligence” in enforcing environmental regulations to protect its waters and prevent toxic green algae blooms.
For more than five decades, tonnes of green algae have washed up annually on Brittany’s beaches in western France, releasing hydrogen sulphide gas as it rots — a toxin that can be deadly in high concentrations.
Photo: AFP
Auffray, a keen trail runner, died of sudden respiratory failure while jogging in the algae-choked Gouessant estuary near the city of Saint-Brieuc.
His family sued over his death, but in 2022 a court rejected the claim, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to link the toxic algae to Auffray’s death.
Tuesday’s decision reversed that ruling, marking the first time France has been held liable for the health risks posed by deadly green algae blooms along its coast.
The court “holds the state liable for negligence due to its failure to implement European and national regulations designed to protect waters from agricultural pollution,” which is “the main cause of the proliferation of green algae in Brittany,” it said in a statement.
The court found that Auffray’s death was caused by a rapid pulmonary oedema — a condition in which there is too much fluid in the lungs — which could only be explained by fatal poisoning from inhaling hydrogen sulphide at very high concentrations.
“For the first time, a French court has recognized the link between a person’s death and the state’s negligence in these green algae cases,” said the family’s lawyer, Francois Lafforgue.
The family would receive partial compensation, as the court found the state 60 percent liable, noting that he had taken a personal risk by jogging in the estuary.
The state has been ordered to pay 277,343 euros (US$321,750) to the jogger’s wife, 15,000 euros to each of his three children and 9,000 euros to his brother.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or “uncle,” who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hookups with more than 1,000 men shook China’s social media, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity. The hashtag “red uncle” was the top trending item on China’s popular microblog Sina Weibo yesterday, drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock. The online posts told of how the man in the eastern city of Nanjing had lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home that he then recorded and distributed online. The
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
CEREMONY EXPECTED: Abdullah Ocalan said he believes in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons, and called on the group to put that into practice The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group yesterday renewed a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state. In a seven-minute video message broadcast on pro-Kurdish Medya Haber’s YouTube channel, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps. “It should be considered natural for you to publicly ensure the disarmament of the relevant groups in a way that addresses the expectations
RSS