Eleven killed as Skydiving plane crashes in Eastern France in ‘Terrible Tragedy’

Eleven people have died after a civilian aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in the town of Tomblaine in eastern France, local authorities confirmed on Sunday

Eleven people have died after a civilian aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in the town of Tomblaine in eastern France, local authorities confirmed on Sunday. The pilot and ten passengers including five students and five instructors lost their lives in the incident, according to local officials. The plane, operated by a parachutist school, had taken off from Nancy-Essey airfield when it crashed in a built-up area near a shopping centre, local media reported.

French transport minister Philippe Tabarot called the crash a “terrible tragedy” and said he and interior minister Laurent Nunez were travelling to the scene. Yves Seguy, the prefect of the eastern department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, confirmed that no bystanders were injured. “The plane fell almost vertically, in the immediate vicinity of a housing estate, on the edge of the airfield,” Seguy told French broadcaster BFM, adding it was fortunate there were no additional victims.

Half of the skydivers who died were nurses, Thierry Pechey, president of the Meurthe-et-Moselle branch of the Order of Independent Nurses, told BFM. Local officials also said relatives of the victims were present at the airfield when the crash happened, reportedly there to watch the dive, which was a first skydiving experience for the five students. A witness to the crash, who declined to be identified, told Reuters he saw the plane veering off to the right as he was driving past. “Something was clearly wrong,” he said. The man did not see the crash due to an embankment, but he heard the sound and later tried to help extinguish the wreckage, which had caught fire.

Police have urged the public to avoid the area around the airport in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department. French authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash. The tragedy has sent shockwaves through the local community, with many of the victims connected to the nursing profession and the skydiving school. As investigators work to determine what went wrong, the families of the victims are being offered support, and the nation mourns the loss of eleven lives in a matter of seconds.