The player, who had just participated in his team’s victory a few hours earlier against Narbonne, would have killed himself accidentally after a nightclub outing.
The world of rugby and Union sportive montalbanaise mourn Kelly Meafua. The Samoan third line of the Pro D2 club killed himself on the night of Friday to Saturday after jumping into the Tarn from a bridge, AFP learned from a source close to the club, confirming information from La Dépêche du Noon.
This tragedy occurred just hours after the match won by his team and in which he had participated against Narbonne at the Sapiac stadium. The last game of the season at home for this former Samoan international in rugby 7.
The player was leaving a nightclub after the victory on Friday night
According to several testimonies, the 32-year-old player, indisputable holder of Montauban this season (25 matches and 8 tries scored), was leaving a nightclub in downtown Montauban before being seen throwing himself from the Pont-Vieux, 22 m high. One of his teammates, French prop Christopher Vaotoa, jumped into the water to rescue him. “I saw a second person jump into the river to try to help him. I retained the third, very alcoholic, who wanted to do the same”told a witness of the scene to La Dépêche du Midi, referring to the rescue attempt.
The teammate who wanted to save him in a state of hpothermia
Quickly rescued by firefighters, the latter was taken to hospital in a state of hypothermia before Meafua’s body was found in the early morning, about two hours later. The prosecutor of Montauban, Bruno Sauvage, favors the track of a “dramatic accident“. An autopsy will be carried out to find out the reason for the death and to establish if the player from the Pacific Islands, passed by the clubs of Narbonne and Béziers, was under the influence of alcohol or narcotics when he jumped from the bridge.