The car of two octogenarians from Roubaix who have been missing since January 1 was found this Wednesday in the Scheldt canal, near Saint-Saulve (North). The vehicle, a Citröen C3, was extracted from the canal around 5 p.m., at the river port of this town near Valenciennes, according to a source familiar with the matter cited by AFP.
“There is a deceased person inside”, she added, specifying that this body had not been identified. “There could be a second one,” she added.
The firefighters were called upon at the start of the afternoon for a technical assistance operation for the police, mobilizing divers, in the Valenciennes sector. Fire engines and police were present in the early evening on the site, where floodlights had been installed. The place where the car was found is outside the route between the town of Mairieux, near Maubeuge, from where the retirees had left by car and their destination of Roubaix.
Disappeared since January 1
The prosecutor of the Republic of Lille, Carole Étienne, indicated to go on the spot, refusing to any other comment. “All the hypotheses are being considered at the present time” on the disappearance of the couple, she had indicated in mid-January.
An investigation had been opened “as soon as the worrying disappearance of the couple was reported to the Roubaix police station on January 5” by the spouse’s sister. These octogenarians “would not have given any sign of life since January 1, when they would have taken the road by car” from Mairieux, “from where they left around 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. to return to their home in Roubaix”, she had specified.
Many investigations have been carried out (telephone, banking, SDIS, hospitals, home visits) as well as hearings of the entourage of the two retirees. A call for witnesses was also launched on January 9.
“The last call received on the couple’s mobile phone took place on January 1 at 6:47 p.m.”, located in La Longueville (North), but “the last trace elements of the mobile make it possible to locate the latter the same day in Marly at 7:09 p.m. “, near Valenciennes, had indicated the prosecutor.
