{"id":538803,"date":"2026-01-24T06:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T06:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/538803\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T06:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T06:05:10","slug":"authorities-confirm-body-of-french-diver-missing-in-antarctica-has-been-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/538803\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities confirm body of French diver missing in Antarctica has been found"},"content":{"rendered":"

The body of a French diver who went missing in Antarctica earlier this month has been found after an extensive multinational search, the French Polar Institute says.<\/p>\n

G\u00e9rald Malaussena had been diving with a colleague to check scientific equipment under the ice near Dumont d’Urville Station in Ad\u00e9lie Land when he went missing on January 13<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A search was launched immediately, with teams drilling holes into the ice near the dive site to examine the water.<\/p>\n

“From the very first days of the search, the ice floe was systematically breached at numerous points according to a grid pattern,” the institute said in a press release translated from French into English.<\/p>\n

“At each of these points, a camera was used to examine the entire water column beneath the ice.<\/p>\n

“The search also continued using a sonar. This instrument, usually used to measure the thickness of the ice floe, is capable of detecting the presence of metal up to several meters below the surface and, consequently, diving equipment.”<\/p>\n

\"Ship<\/p>\n

Ad\u00e9lie Land is a claimed territory of France located on the continent of Antarctica. (Institut polaire fran\u00e7ais Paul-\u00c9mile Victor: Marine nationale)<\/p>\n

Two days later, four members of the US Coast Guard arrived from McMurdo Station to assist in the operation using a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV).<\/p>\n

“The ROV’s dives under the sea ice began the following morning and continued throughout the day without success,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

the institute said.<\/p>\n

“After exploring as wide an area as possible around the dive site, the American team departed on January 17.”<\/p>\n

Further searches were conducted over the following days, including the use of infrared cameras under the ice.<\/p>\n

As the operation continued in Antarctica, the French icebreaker L’Astrolabe departed Hobart on January 18 to bolster search capabilities, including three French divers from Reunion Island.<\/p>\n

On January 21, another US Coast Guard member arrived from McMurdo Station with a second ROV equipped with sonar technology.<\/p>\n

“The long range of this new equipment (300 meters) allowed for the exploration of an area that had not yet been searched, given the resources available at the time,” the institute said.<\/p>\n

“It was in this area that G\u00e9rald Malaussena’s body was located.”<\/p>\n

The institute said it was his fifth consecutive summer deployment to Antarctica.<\/p>\n

“G\u00e9rald was the consummate professional with a sharp wit and a quick mind,” the institute said.<\/p>\n

“Well-liked by everyone, he knew how to share his passion for diving and music.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a separate statement, the director of the institute, David Renault, said: “You will forever be with us, part of this polar family.”<\/p>\n

The institute said a psychologist was travelling on the L’Astrolabe to provide additional support to staff once it reached the station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The body of a French diver who went missing in Antarctica earlier this month has been found after…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":538804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[812,4637,83551,238036,746,22680,117749,101361,5410,7571,238035,5811,159,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-538803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-antarctica","tag-body","tag-diver","tag-dumont-durville-station","tag-environment","tag-found","tag-french","tag-gerald","tag-ice","tag-institute","tag-malaussena","tag-missing","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115948573358079450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}