11 killed as civilian plane crashes in Eastern France

Pilatus aircraft crashed Sunday, around 11am (CEST, UTC+2) near the Auchan supermarket in Tomblaine, northeastern France, killing all 11 people on board. The aircraft was German-registered and had been used for skydiving operations. It carried one pilot, five instructors, and five students undergoing a baptism experience in tandem jumping. 

Prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle Yves Séguy stated in the afternoon the number of fatalities.

The accident involving skydivers poses immediate issues of maintenance of aircraft, weather conditions, and preflight procedures which will be investigated in the obligatory investigation.

The plane took off from the airfield at Nancy-Essey and landed in the middle of a road near a commercial area in Tomblaine, but it didn’t crash into any houses.

Séguy used the COD (departmental operations centre) to get an eye on the matter; he mobilised all the emergency services to the crash site.

The accident site had been under a strict security perimeter, as there was a risk of explosion due to the crashed plane.

France's interior minister, Laurent Nunez, visited the site of the crash at 4:30pm. The police asked people not to visit the site and vacate the roads for the convenience of emergency services.

This crash is amongst the most lethal aviation crashes that have occurred in France in recent years, though there has been no official statement on the cause of the accident yet.