The firefighters were alerted around 6:30 a.m. to the attack on a woman on the public road on boulevard Jean-Moulin, Bellevue district.

The 47-year-old victim, according to firefighters, “quickly fell unconscious and then went into cardio-respiratory arrest when help arrived”. She could not be revived and was pronounced dead at the scene, they said in a statement.

The mayor of Nantes, Johanna Rolland (PS), confirmed “the death of a woman in Bellevue after a stabbing this (Sunday) morning”.

“I am in constant contact with the @Prefet44 and the Public Prosecutor. Everything is being done to find the author of this appalling crime”, assured Ms. Rolland on Twitter, addressing “all (her) support to the family and relatives of the victim.

The homicide occurred three weeks after the September 24 rape of a 40-year-old woman in downtown Nantes, sparking a debate over the city’s security.

These last facts occurred on a Saturday shortly before 6 a.m. on the island of Nantes, near the yellow crane. The victim said she was going to a friend’s house when she was assaulted.

In this case, two men of Sudanese nationality were implicated and imprisoned.