Xavier Maniguet

Q: When did Xavier Maniguet die?

Xavier Maniguet died on March 23, 2009.

Q: How old was Xavier Maniguet when they died?

Xavier Maniguet was 62 years old at the time of death.

Q: What was Xavier Maniguet's cause of death?

The cause of death of Xavier Maniguet was plane crash.

Xavier Maniguet (17 October 1946 – 22 March 2009) was a French medical writer, doctor and intelligence service (DGSE) agent.

Along with Roland Verge, Gerald Andries and Jean-Michel Barcelo, Maniguet bombed the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand's Auckland Harbour on 10 July 1985.

A specialist in aviation medicine, hyperbaric medicine and sports medicine, he died on 23 March 2009 at the controls of a light plane on the glacier near St. Sorlin d'Arves, after taking off from the airfield in Meribel (France).

Biography

A specialist in aviation and hyperbaric medicine and colonel in the French army,as well as an agent of the Directorate General for External Security, the French foreign intelligence service, Xavier Maniguet was involved in the Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. He participated in Operation Satanic, which involved sinking the Greenpeace ship in Auckland Harbor, as skipper of the Ouvéa, a sailboat rented in New Caledonia that was carrying explosives and diving equipment. Its crew consisted of Roland Verge, Gérald Andries, and Jean-Michel Barcelo, all three non-commissioned officers at the Frogman swimmer training center in Aspretto, Corsica.

Criticized by some sections of the press, he denied in the weekly magazine Paris Match that he and his crew were directly involved in the operation and stated that the sailboat Ouvéa had left the port of Auckland the day before the Terrorism. He wrote the book French Bomber - Finally the Truth About the Rainbow Warrior Affair in 2007 to give his version of events.

Xavier Maniguet died on March 22, 2009, in a plane crash on the Saint-Sorlin-d'Arves near Saint-Sorlin-d'Arves, after taking off from the Méribel altiport (Savoie).