Skydiving Aircraft Crashes Near French Airfield, Killing All 11 On Board

Strasbourg— A civilian aircraft carrying skydivers crashed near the Nancy-Essey aerodrome in eastern France on Sunday, killing all 11 people on board, local authorities said, prompting technical and judicial investigations into one of the country’s deadliest light aircraft accidents.

The aircraft, registered in Germany, came down in a grassy area near the runway at the Nancy-Essey airfield in Tomblaine, close to residential neighborhoods and two roads, according to local officials.

Yves Seguy, prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, said the victims included five skydiving instructors, five students and the pilot. He confirmed that no people on the ground were injured in the crash.

Authorities said the cause of the accident was not immediately known.

Emergency services secured the crash site while medical and psychological support teams assisted relatives of the victims who had been at the airfield, along with witnesses affected by the incident.

Amaury Lacote, deputy public prosecutor in Nancy, said a technical investigation had been opened to determine the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Police urged the public to avoid the area around the airport to ensure emergency responders had unrestricted access to the site as recovery operations and investigative work continued.