Eleven people, including a pilot and 10 parachutists, were killed when a small plane crashed in the northeastern French town of Tomblaine on Sunday, narrowly missing nearby homes, local officials and a witness said.
The aircraft, used by a parachuting school and carrying five trainee skydivers and five instructors, went down soon after take-off, officials said.
The students were a group of nurses, according to a source close to the case and confirmed by the head of Meurthe-et-Moselle’s nursing council, Thierry Pechey.
“They were colleagues who had decided to go on a first skydiving jump, no doubt to unwind, as we’re going through a difficult time with the heatwave,” he said.
A witness, who declined to be identified, said the plane was climbing at around 11am local time when the engine noise suddenly stopped, as if it had cut out. He said he saw no fire, explosion or other visible sign of a problem before the crash.
Mayor of the nearby city of Nancy, Mathieu Klein, said the victims “died in full view of their loved ones, who were preparing to film the tandem skydives”.