Overview
- During a nocturnal exercise early Tuesday in Angers, contact with two combat-diver trainees was lost around 2 a.m., they were pulled from the Maine River in cardiac arrest about an hour later, and they were pronounced dead at the hospital.
- The victims were Sgt. Bin Chen of the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment and Cpl.-Chef Axel Delplanque of the 6th Engineer Regiment, who were taking part in a certified military diving course.
- Prosecutors say firefighters found them roughly 6 meters down in a previously unknown cavity near a bridge pier after safety staff reported an immobile guide buoy and faint cries for help.
- An investigation for involuntary manslaughter is now led by the Rennes prosecutor’s office, with autopsies ordered and the diving equipment seized for expert analysis after records showed an annual inspection in August 2025.
- The fatal evolution was the 55th of 56 planned oxygen dives in a 10‑week course, which has drawn fresh scrutiny to river hazards such as near‑zero visibility and confined spaces and to how training risk is managed.