Skydiving plane crash kills all 11 on board in eastern France
A skydiving plane crashed shortly after take-off in northeastern France, killing all 11 people on board in what officials called the country's worst skydiving accident in around three decades.
The crash happened on 28 June near the town of Tomblaine, in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region. The single-engine Pilatus PC-6 had just taken off from the Nancy-Essey airfield on the outskirts of Nancy when it came down about 300 metres from the runway.
The dead included five parachuting instructors, five novice jumpers and the pilot, according to authorities. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said it was France's biggest aviation accident involving skydiving in about 30 years.
Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft banked left after take-off before disappearing from radar less than a minute into the flight, and witnesses said it plunged to the ground almost vertically after an apparent malfunction. Some victims' families saw the aircraft fall, adding to the trauma of the disaster.
The Paris prosecutor's office is leading the investigation into the cause of the crash. France's civil aviation authorities were also examining the aircraft's maintenance and flight history as part of the probe.
