Eleven people died this Sunday when the small plane in which they were traveling to make their baptismal skydiving flight crashed. The tragedy occurred in the town of Tomblaine, on the outskirts of the city of Nancy, in eastern France, authorities reported, shortly after takeoff from the Nancy-Essey airfield, where those close to the victims saw the plane plummet.

The prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, Yves Seguy, confirmed to the press that there were 11 fatalities (five instructors, five students and the pilot of the ship), with no “collateral effects” of the incident. Seguy explained that a breakdown in the device was behind the accident, and now the experts are evaluating what exactly the fault was.

According to press reports, after taking off the plane turned to the left and crashed just under a minute later. Seguy highlighted that the accident could have had important collateral effects, because it occurred in a highly urbanized area, only a few hundred meters from the airfield. A witness told BFM-TV that he was in his yard when he heard what sounded like the sound of an engine misfiring and then an explosion.

Medical and psychological support

According to the local media L'Est Republicain, the crashed device is a Pilatus registered in Germany, commonly used for parachute jumps. It was a plane belonging to a skydiving club. The accident occurred on Avenida Salvador Allende around 11:00 a.m., near a supermarket in Tomblaine, in an area adjacent to a commercial area.

Medical and psychological support teams attended to the relatives of the victims who were at the airfield, as well as other witnesses. The police, who are collecting testimonies to reconstruct the events, cordoned off the scene of the accident and urged on the social network X (Twitter) to avoid the area around the airport to allow access to emergency services.