Eleven killed after civilian plane crashes in eastern France

LAST UPDATE | 8 hrs ago

ELEVEN PEOPLE HAVE been killed after a skydiving plane crashed in eastern France, local authorities said. 

The crash in the town of Tomblaine killed five instructors, five students, and the pilot, said Yves Seguy, the prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department.

The aircraft, registered in Germany, crashed in a grassy area near the runway of the Nancy-Essey aerodrome, close to a residential area and two roads.

The students were a group of nurses, according to the head of Meurthe-et-Moselle’s nursing council, Thierry Pechey.

“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.

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Mathieu Klein, the mayor of the nearby city of Nancy, said the victims’ families were present during the crash as they were preparing to film them. 

Medical and psychological support teams were caring for relatives of the victims who were present, as well as other witnesses, according to local authorities.

Tomblaine mayor Herve Feron said the plane fell “in a completely unexplained manner”, describing it as crashing “straight down”.

The aircraft had been “chartered for the occasion, for the skydiving weekend, as is regularly done”, he added.

The cause of the incident was not immediately clear and a technical investigation had been opened, said Amaury Lacote, deputy public prosecutor in the eastern city of Nancy.

Police urged people on the social media platform X to “strictly avoid” the area around the airport to allow emergency services access.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot are expected to visit the scene of the accident later this afternoon.