In Paris on January 27, Reuters reported that a British sailor went missing at sea when his yacht was discovered wrecked off the southwest coast of France during severe storms over the weekend, as confirmed by French maritime authorities.
The 73-year-old sailor's disappearance occurred amidst Storm Herminia's havoc on western France, leading France's national weather agency on Monday to issue a red alert for the Ile-et-Vilaine department due to the high risk of significant floods.
Upon detecting the distress signal of the yacht approximately 80 km (50 miles) west of Lacanau on Saturday afternoon, a helicopter was dispatched to find the sailboat. The Prefet Maritime de l'Atlantique announced in a statement late on Sunday that the helicopter, carrying two divers, located an empty life raft.
Efforts to locate the missing man included mobilizing a cargo vessel and the Spanish hospital ship Esperanza del Mar. Sadly, the search was halted in the early hours of Sunday due to lack of new information after hours of searching.