Eleven people died when a civilian plane crash involving skydivers hit Tomblaine in eastern France on Sunday. The aircraft had taken off from Nancy-Essey airfield before the crash, and the flight was being used by a parachutist school.
Yves Seguy, the prefect of the eastern department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, said no bystanders were injured in the incident. The dead were the pilot and 10 passengers, including five students and five instructors.
Tomblaine and Nancy-Essey airfield
Police urged the public to avoid the area around the airport in Meurthe-et-Moselle after the crash. Relatives of the victims were present at the airfield when the aircraft went down, turning the scene into both an emergency site and a gathering point for families waiting for news.
The detail that the plane was carrying skydivers for a parachutist school adds a sharp edge to the toll. The same flight that was part of routine training ended with everyone aboard dead, while people on the ground were spared.
France response
The French interior minister was on his way to the scene after the crash. The immediate official focus is the area around Nancy-Essey airfield, where investigators and local authorities are dealing with the wreckage and keeping the public away from the site.
The cause has not been given, leaving the central safety question open: what made the aircraft go down after taking off from Nancy-Essey airfield? Until that is answered, the only confirmed facts are the death toll, the identities of those aboard in broad terms, and the absence of injuries among bystanders.
