French Actress Nadia Farès in Critical Condition After Near-Drowning in Paris

French actress Nadia Farès, 57, remained in a medically induced coma at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris after being found unconscious at the bottom of a swimming pool on April 12, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. The actress was pulled to the surface by two fellow swimmers at the Blanche sports complex on rue Blanche in the city's 9th arrondissement. She had been submerged for an estimated three to four minutes before anyone intervened. Firefighters provided initial care on-site before emergency services transported her to hospital in serious condition. Doctors subsequently placed her in an artificial coma to stabilize her condition. The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed the incident to the newspaper Libération, noting that no criminal offense had been detected at this stage.

Swimmers used defibrillator before paramedics arrived According to reporting by Le Parisien, Farès had been performing swimming exercises with fins and a kickboard when she suddenly lost consciousness and sank to the bottom of the pool. A swimmer present in the pool noticed after several minutes that she had not resurfaced and spotted her motionless body underwater. With the assistance of a second swimmer, he pulled her toward the pool stairs and out of the water. The two men then began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, with one performing cardiac massage while the other took over. A cardiac defibrillator available at the facility was also used on-site before the arrival of emergency services. The prosecutor's office noted that Farès had been observed by several people in what witnesses described as a yoga position, or curled position, at the bottom of the water.

„On April 12, around noon, while she was swimming at the rue Blanche pool, Nadia F. was brought to the surface, unconscious, after having been observed by several people in a yoga position at the bottom of the water” — Paris prosecutor's office via BFMTV

An investigation into the causes of the injuries has been entrusted to the police station of the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Officers are analyzing security camera footage from inside the sports complex to reconstruct the sequence of events and determine the precise amount of time that elapsed before Farès was located. The prosecutor's office stated that no offense had been noted at this stage of the inquiry. No definitive medical report had been released as of the latest available information, and no one from the actress's inner circle had publicly commented on her condition or prognosis.

Career defined by a 2000 thriller alongside Jean Reno Nadia Farès was born in 1968 in Marrakech, Morocco, and grew up in Nice before moving to Paris to pursue an acting career. She began working in French cinema in the 1990s, appearing in films directed by Alexandre Arcady, Claude Lelouch, and Bernie Bonvoisin. Her breakthrough with international audiences came through the 2000 thriller "The Crimson Rivers," directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, in which she starred alongside Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel. The film was based on a novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé and generated a box office gross exceeding 40 million euros in Europe, according to El Mundo. Starting in 2009, she stepped back from her career for personal reasons before returning to screens in 2016 with the Netflix series "Marseille," in which she played the president of the departmental council of Bouches-du-Rhône alongside Gérard Depardieu and Benoit Magimel.

Farès built a career spanning French cinema and international productions over more than three decades. She made her film debut in 1992 with "My Wife's Girlfriends" and went on to work with some of the most prominent directors in French cinema. Her role in "The Crimson Rivers" established her as a recognizable figure in European film. She also appeared in "The Nest" directed by Florent-Emilio Siri in 2002, and in Claude Lelouch's "Everyone's Life" in 2017. More recently, she participated in the film "Siempre posible," directed by Jacques Ouaniche and co-starring Amanda Lear, according to El Mundo. The Blanche sports complex where the incident occurred is described by multiple outlets as an upscale gym in the French capital. No further updates on her medical condition had been made public as of April 15, 2026.