Body of Missing French Jet Ski Pilot Found Near Barcelona After Months-Long Search

Ayoub Ziane, 24, left the port of Grau-du-Roi (Gard) on a jet ski, but never made it back. The jet ski pilot has been missing since December 28. His companions, Joséphine Rodriguez, 40, and her son, Mike, 13, suffered the same fate. While the young man’s body was found, those of his companions remain untraceable, reports Le Parisien.

DNA analysis allowed the Spanish authorities to identify Ayoub Ziane’s body, in an advanced state of decomposition, after a long stay at sea.

On Friday, February 21, the Nîmes public prosecutor’s office and the young man’s family, who was married and the father of two young children, received the results of these analyzes. The registration papers of the jet ski, found on the body, inside a wetsuit similar to the one worn by Ayoub, suggest that it is the body of the pilot.

Since the causes of this death were unknown until now, Patrick Gontard, the Ziane family’s lawyer, intends to request the opening of a judicial investigation at the beginning of the week.

For now, the Vauvert (Gard) research brigade is continuing the investigation in order to find the bodies of the two other passengers of the jet ski. It is also trying to understand how Ayoub Ziane’s body ended up in Barcelona, nearly 300 km from Grau-du-Roi.