At least 11 dead after a small plane crashes in France
The passengers of the aircraft were heading to make a parachute jump on the outskirts of the city of Nancy
BarcelonaA small plane with more than a dozen people on board, who were heading for a parachute jump, crashed this Sunday on the outskirts of the city of Nancy, in eastern France. Local spokespersons have confirmed that at least 11 of the passengers died in the accident.
The prefect of the department, Yves Seguy, confirmed to the press that, "at this moment," there are 11 fatalities. In later statements to the BFMTV channel, Seguy detailed that a malfunction in the aircraft would have been the cause of the accident — experts are still evaluating the exact cause — and explained that it occurred very shortly after takeoff from Nancy-Essey aerodrome, which allowed some relatives of the victims to see the plane "nosedive".
"The eleven occupants have died," added the senior official, who assured that the accident could have caused significant collateral damage, as it occurred in a highly urbanized area, just a few hundred meters from the aerodrome.
Both the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, and the Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot, will soon travel to the scene of the accident, as Seguy announced.
According to the local media L'Est Républicain, the dead are five instructors, five students, and the pilot, information that the prefect declined to confirm. According to the same media outlet, the crashed aircraft is a Pilatus registered in Germany, commonly used for parachute jumps. It was a plane belonging to a skydiving club. The accident occurred on Salvador Allende Avenue around 11:00 AM, near a supermarket in Tomblaine, in an area adjacent to a commercial zone.
