Eleven people died when a light aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in the town of Tomblaine, eastern France, on Sunday – with some of the victims’ relatives watching from the airfield as the plane plunged to the ground.
The pilot and all ten passengers were killed, including five instructors and five people who were preparing to make their first ever tandem jumps. Half of those who died were nurses, according to Thierry Pechey, president of a local nursing organisation. “They were colleagues who had decided to go on a first skydiving jump, no doubt to unwind, as we’re going through a difficult time with the heatwave,” he said.
“Eleven killed when skydiving plane crashes in Tomblaine, France; relatives witnessed the tragedy.”
The plane, operated by a parachutist school, took off from Nancy-Essey airfield around 11:00 local time (10:00 BST). It crashed suddenly near the edge of the runway, close to a residential area and a shopping centre on Rue Salvador Allende. Local officials said it narrowly missed houses. “Give or take a few metres and the accident could have caused collateral casualties,” said Yves Seguy, the prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle, who added that the aircraft fell “almost vertically, in the immediate vicinity of a housing estate”.
A witness who declined to be identified told Reuters he saw the plane veering off to the right as he drove past. “Something was clearly wrong,” he said. He did not see the impact because of an embankment, but heard the crash. When he arrived, he tried to help extinguish the wreckage, which had caught fire. “We saw right away that it was over, that they had all died instantly. There was no movement, and it was clear the impact had been too violent for there to be any survivors.”
The mayor of nearby Nancy, Mathieu Klein, said some of the victims had died “in full view of their loved ones”. Chaynesse Khirouni, president of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, said those family members had suffered “considerable psychological trauma”.
France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, who visited the crash site, said there was “very strong emotion” as well as “great solidarity” for the families. Medical and psychological support teams were sent to care for relatives and other witnesses. The Paris prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the cause, Nuñez said.
The crash is the deadliest private plane accident in French history, excluding military and commercial flights, according to AFP, citing the country’s BEA aviation safety agency. An area near the site was cordoned off amid a risk of explosion, authorities said.