Eleven killed after plane carrying skydivers crashes in eastern France

Local authorities said that 11 people died when a civilian plane carrying paratroopers crashed in the town of Tomblaine in eastern France.

All 10 passengers, including the pilot and five instructors and five others preparing to parachute for the first time, were killed.

The plane, piloted by a paratrooper school, crashed suddenly at around 11am local time (10am BST) as it took off from Nancy-Essey airport.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that the Paris prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into the cause of the incident.

Nuñez added that some of the victims’ relatives saw the accident occur as they gathered at the airport to watch the tandem jumps for the first time.

Mathieu Klein, mayor of the nearby city of Nancy, said some victims died “in front of the eyes of their loved ones.”

Chaynesse Khirouni, head of the eastern department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, said these family members had suffered “significant psychological trauma”.

Nuñez said he felt “very strong emotions” when he visited the crash site and there was “great solidarity” for the victims’ families.

Medical and psychological support teams arrived to care for relatives and other witnesses, he added.

The plane crashed near a residential area and shopping mall near the edge of the airport. Local officials say nearby homes were narrowly missed.

“Give or take a few metres, the accident could have caused secondary losses,” Meurthe-et-Moselle Governor Yves Seguy said.

He told French broadcaster BFM that the plane crashed “almost vertically in the immediate vicinity of a housing estate.”

Thierry Pechey, president of a local nursing organisation, told BFM that half of the dead paratroopers were nurses.

“They were our colleagues who, while going through a difficult period due to the heat wave, decided to take part in the first parachute jump, undoubtedly to relax,” he said.

The crash is the deadliest private plane crash in French history, excluding military and commercial flights, AFP news agency reported, citing the country’s BEA aviation safety agency.

An eyewitness, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters he saw the plane veer to the right as it passed.

“Something was clearly wrong,” he said.

The man did not see the accident because of the roadside embankment, but he said he heard the sound.

When he arrived at the scene, he tried to help extinguish the wreckage of the plane that was on fire.

“We saw immediately that it was all over, that they all died instantly. There was no movement and it was clear that the impact was too violent for the survivors to survive.”

Tomblaine Mayor Hervé Feron said the plane fell from the sky “in a completely inexplicable manner” and said it was “too early to find an explanation”.

“The weather conditions may or may not have played a role at all, I really have no idea,” he told BFM.

It was not immediately clear whether weather conditions were a factor in the crash, and Nuñez declined to speculate ahead of the official investigation.

Like much of Europe, France has been hit by a scorching heatwave in recent days. A yellow weather warning for high temperatures has been issued for Meurthe-et-Moselle on Sunday.