Five off-duty gendarmes and a Maltese police officer turned a leisurely morning on the water into a rescue operation on Thursday, saving three men from a boat engulfed in flames off Théoule-sur-Mer, according to France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
Adjudant Jérémy Werbrouck, 32, a gendarme normally based in Beaulieu-sur-Mer currently on reinforcement duty in Mandelieu-la-Napoule, had planned nothing more than a morning of paddleboarding and canoeing with four fellow gendarmes and a Maltese police officer, also on reinforcement in the area. Around 10.40am, as the group passed the Pointe de l'Aiguille, a thick plume of black smoke drew their attention to a six metre boat engulfed in flames, its three occupants still trying to throw equipment and fuel canisters overboard to slow the fire's spread.
The off-duty officers brought the group aboard their makeshift craft and ferried them to safety on a nearby rock face, while the boat's occupants alerted the Cross Med maritime rescue coordination centre, which dispatched maritime gendarmerie and firefighters to the scene. All three men were brought ashore at Port La Galère, with one, burned in the fire, requiring immediate medical care.