Ingrid Bastide, from Giroussens, wanted to make her dream come true: to participate in the Raid Amazones in Sri Lanka. If the raid went well, the days that followed in the Maldives will change his life for a long time.
“I felt sucked in. And then the boat’s propeller ripped my calf apart. Then the other leg. I screamed, luckily I was able to hold on to the ladder,” she explains. On board the boat, the passengers think of a shark attack…
And yet, for Ingrid everything had started well 10 days earlier. By flying to Sri Lanka with her adventure partner, she was indeed far from suspecting that she would not find France until mid-May. “We were registered for the Raid des Amazones. This raid combines trail running, kayaking, cycling, canoeing and archery. It is reserved for women and it is for humanitarian purposes,” she says.
From the first day, his partner suffered from dehydration and had to give up at the finish of the stage. Never mind, although eliminated for the general classification, the 45-year-old Tarnaise will go to the end of her project by integrating teams still in the race.
” Great. It was delicious “. Ingrid had then planned to bask in the Maldives for 3 days of relaxation. The gender: after the effort, the comfort. The Maldives, for many tourists, is a small paradise on earth: blue sky, white sand beach, coconut palms and warm sea. “I let myself be tempted by a day boat trip to meet sharks and dolphins. 300 euros is expensive, but I thought the idea was great. »
Hit by the propeller of the boat
Here she is on board a boat with a guide, the pilot and 6 passengers, most of whom had participated in the raid. A swim around the tub and suddenly, tragedy. For some unknown reason, the pilot overshoots while Ingrid is swimming nearby.
Hit by the propeller, her legs bleeding, Ingrid finds the strength to get back on board. No first aid kit, fortunately the presence on board of a nurse who is a nurse will be of great help. “The 3 hours to reach the port were endless with unbearable pain”.
At the dock, she is transferred to the emergency room of the local hospital. Operations, laying of a brace and whole days in bed with the hunger that torments her.
During Ramadan, there is no question of sustenance during the day. And alone, it was not necessary to count on the family, thousands of kilometers away, to bring food. Repatriated in mid-April to France, she was hospitalized at the Toulouse University Hospital. Ingrid’s story is not a succession of whining. This mother of two daughters, hairdresser on her own, is fighting hard to regain her physical integrity.
“My strength is to believe in it. Come back stronger. Walk of course. Hope to do a marathon again one day. A next bone graft operation is scheduled for mid-June.
Alexandre Debanne, the TV presenter known at the end of the 1980s for the animation of Vidéo Gag and the Wheel of Fortune is the organizer of the Amazon Raid. When he found out about Ingrid’s accident, he said a nice, nice word. A little balm to the heart in this difficult period for this athlete.
