Eleven people have been killed after a light aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in the eastern French town of Tomblaine, local authorities have confirmed.
The pilot and all 10 passengers died in the crash.
The group included five experienced skydiving instructors and five people preparing to make their first tandem parachute jump.
The aircraft, operated by a parachute training school, had taken off from Nancy-Essey Airport before crashing shortly after 11:00 local time.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation to determine what caused the aircraft to go down.
Several relatives of the victims witnessed the tragedy after gathering at the airfield to watch the first-time skydivers take part in their jump.
Nancy Mayor Mathieu Klein said some of those on board died “before the eyes of their loved ones.”
Medical and psychological support teams have been deployed to assist relatives and witnesses.
The plane crashed near the edge of the airfield, only a short distance from a residential neighborhood and a shopping centre, having narrowly avoided hitting nearby homes by a few metres.
Five of those killed were nurses who had booked their first skydive together.
This is the deadliest accident involving a private aircraft in French history (excluding military and commercial aviation).
The crash occurred as France, along with much of Europe, continues to endure an intense heatwave. Meurthe-et-Moselle was under an amber heat warning on Sunday. A link to the weather conditions is important but unclear yet.
