According to Reuters, a passenger plane transporting a group of skydivers crashed on Sunday in Tomblaine, near Nancy, France, killing eleven people.
According to the French publication Le Parisien, the deceased are thought to comprise the pilot, five instructors, and five students. While authorities assessed the situation, emergency personnel raced to the area.
The fatalities are believed to be self-employed nurses from Nancy who were engaging in their first skydiving adventure, Thierry Pechey, head of the Meurthe-et-Moselle section of the Order of Independent Nurses, told BFMTV from the disaster site. “It would appear that the victims are self-employed nurses,” he stated.
Local media reported that a number of the victims’ families were present when the collision occurred. They had come to witness the group’s first skydiving adventure. To help the families of the victims, authorities have established a medical and psychological support center.
The jet crashed on a grassy spot next to a road, close to homes. “The accident happened around 11 am,” a witness reported to L’Est Républicain, a French daily. “I was driving by on my way to do my shopping at Auchan when I saw it dive and crash.”
According to local media, the aircraft was a German-registered Pilatus, a kind of aircraft frequently employed for skydiving and parachute operations.
In order to facilitate access for emergency services, police asked users of the social media site X to “strictly avoid” the vicinity of the airport.
According to his staff, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is scheduled to visit the accident scene in the late afternoon.
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