Karine Vocant, a home carer from Dordogne, has been named in the local press as the victim of the accident.
The 36-year-old was travelling through the Pyrenees Mountains when the boulder, weighing half a tonne, fell from the side of the mountain and on to her car.
He escaped from the wreckage uninjured but was taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Pau suffering from shock and he remains there receiving counselling.
The couple were expecting their first baby, French newspaper Sud Ouest reported.
'We're all in shock,' Marie-Thérèse Marchand, Mr Marchand's mother, told the newspaper, 'Karine and Patrick had known each other for six years. They were having their first child together. Patrick was overjoyed.'
The reason for the rockfall is unexplained and shocking photographs taken of the scene show the huge boulder still wedged in the side of the car as a recovery truck takes it away from the scene.
A source from the police investigation said: 'For some unexplained reason the rock detached from the mountainside. The local prefecture has asked an expert to visit the site to find out why and to see if there is a risk of others falling.'
People living in the area said they didn't feel safe while driving alon the road as there are no barriers or nets to catch falling debris.
A police investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding the accident and the car and boulder have been taken to a police station in Arudy.
posted by Emanto Ngaloru Jan 4, 2014.
R,I,P
ReplyDeleteWhat a loss, but God knows the best, take heart Man.
ReplyDelete