AND HERE IS THE NEWS…

….a light look at the latest local news with Caroline Manson

Fourth outbreak of bovine cow disease in the region

The highly contagious Bovine Nodular Dermatosis which was first discovered amongst cattle in Castello d’Empuries in Spain has now spread to the P-O.  Despite a vaccination programme and a ban on movement of cattle, 3 outbreaks were discovered last week and a 4th outbreak has been confirmed this week.  All the farms are in the area of the Canigou Massif and so far 140 cattle have been slaughtered.

Busy day for rescue services

On Wednesday evening the driver of a jeep on a small lane near Canet stopped at the side of the road when he smelled burning.  Seconds after he got out of the car it caught fire and firefighters had to close the road to deal with the debris.  Earlier in the day another car caught fire on the main RD914 between the Tecnosud roundabout and Mega-Castillet, causing the intervention of 6 firefighters and the closure of the area for several hours.  Two other serious accidents also took place that morning; a van driver was seriously injured after hitting a lorry on the A9 motorway, and less than two hours later firefighters were sent to Saint-Jean-Pla-de-Corts where a vehicle had overturned in a ditch.  Sadly the 70 year old victim, who was in cardio-respiratory arrest, did not survive.

Police carry out surprise checks on food establishments

On Thursday evening in Perpignan several ‘raids’ were carried out by the police on establishments handling food, such as grocery stores, snack bars and nightclubs.  This was a joint effort between agents from Health and Safety, Employment control and the Tax Office. Ten kilos of food were destroyed (including badly refrozen seafood and cooked food left uncovered), there were 3 cases of narcotics possession and also fines issued for the unauthorised sales of imported cigarettes and alcohol.  It is not yet known if any of the establishments are to be closed.

Investigation into fatal accident in Saint-Cyprien

At around 10pm on the night of 16th October a 19 year old female was driving with her friend beside her in the passenger seat.  A young man walking along the pavement (who turned out to be the driver’s ex-boyfriend) spotted them and attempted to get into the car as it was moving.  He lunged at the driver and held on to the driver’s hair, who accelerated in a panic, throwing the young man out of the car and onto a metal barrier, which caused him serious stomach injuries.  The car kept moving and crashed into a digger where roadworks were being carried out.  The driver and her friend were injured and taken to Perpignan Hospital, where the young man died of his injuries during the night.  Investigations are continuing but it has already been ascertained that the driver was under the influence of cannabis and alcohol, and that she had been the victim of violence by her ex-boyfriend a few days earlier.

240 kilos of tobacco seized in Cerdanya

Customs officers spent an eventful weekend carrying out operations between Bourg-Madame and Porta, targeting smugglers.  They built road-blocks which some vehicles attempted to avoid but with the use of ‘stingers’ cars attempting to flee were immobilised and contraband seized.  Others tried using the trails in the mountains to cross the border on foot but were also thwarted by customs officials.  Over a period of just a few hours nearly 240 kilos of illegal tobacco was seized.

Storm Benjamin hits the P-O

The region was on ‘orange alert’ for high winds on Thursday and while the storm didn’t quite cause the swathes of devastation we were led to expect it certainly kept the rescue services busy.  At 2pm they reported having carried out 22 interventions relating to falling trees, branches and tiles.  Several roads had to be closed due to fallen branches and they were also called out to the church of Saint-Joseph near the station in Perpignan where the cross on the bell tower had been detached and looked likely to fall.  Air traffic was also disrupted – the Paris-Perpignan flight could not land at Rivesaltes airport and was diverted to Barcelona.