An accident as rare as it is dramatic. Wednesday night, a 19-year-old man took a heavy fall while trying to reach the catacombs between the Luxembourg garden and the Salpêtrière hospital, near Boulevard de l’hôpital, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. He fell as he was using a ladder to access the site with five other friends.
According to our information, the young visitor fell nearly 4 meters in this cramped space. The Paris Fire Brigade quickly mobilized its specialized team from the Research and Intervention Group in Perilous Environments (Grimp) to rescue him.
The delicate operation lasted nearly three hours (until 9 p.m.) to assist the young man who had both ankles broken and a head injury, according to initial observations. The Paris Fire Brigade called for a resuscitation ambulance to take care of the victim.
Access forbidden since 1995
The young adult was evacuated in critical condition to Percy Hospital in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine). “There are people who move around in the catacombs of the 13th arrondissement, but this is the first time such an accident has been reported to me,” said Jérôme Coumet, the mayor of the 13th arrondissement, who assures that everything is being done for the safety of these places regularly visited by sometimes careless visitors. “We have closed some access points, but we cannot close everything for technical and rescue access reasons,” continued the official.
In 2019, in the 14th arrondissement, a teenager who wanted to explore the underground galleries had a heavy fall in an access pit. The pit was close to the official entrance to part of the 300 km of galleries and ossuaries of 6 million Parisians.
After forcing and lifting a forbidden access hatch, the teenager abruptly slipped from the ladder, her body hitting the wall before tumbling down the narrow gallery.
Since 1995, a prefectural order formally prohibits “entering and moving around in the old quarries of Paris.” Rescues were mobilized for accidents 2 or 3 times each year.
