A small aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in northeastern France on Sunday, leaving no survivors among the 11 people on board, officials confirmed.
The plane experienced a mechanical failure and “fell almost vertically” shortly after departing from the Nancy-Essey airfield, located on the edge of the city of Nancy, according to Yves Séguy, the prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle region.
Séguy told broadcaster BFM-TV that the aircraft went down near a residential neighborhood close to the airfield. “Had it occurred just a few dozen meters away, the accident could have caused collateral casualties,” he warned.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the plane veered left after liftoff and struck the ground less than a minute later, coming to rest near nearby homes.
According to local newspaper L’Est Républicain, those killed included five parachuting instructors, five clients, and the pilot.
Nancy Mayor Mathieu Klein told public broadcaster France Info that the passengers had been planning tandem jumps — a type of skydive in which two people, typically an experienced instructor and a first-time jumper, are harnessed together for the descent.
Klein also noted that some of the victims had family members and friends present at the airfield who watched the plane go down, resulting in “numerous” cases of psychological trauma.
Séguy said emergency responders were on scene immediately and were offering psychological support to relatives of those killed, while authorities also worked to gather witness accounts. “We are deploying all available resources,” he said, citing emergency medical teams, firefighters, police, and mental health professionals.
Flight tracking websites identified the aircraft as a single-engine Pilatus PC-6, a small plane commonly used to transport freight, passengers, and skydivers.
A nearby resident, identified by BFM-TV as John Curaku, said he was in his garden when he heard what sounded like an engine cutting out, followed immediately by a loud impact. He said he went to the scene and found “no signs of life,” with two victims found several meters from the wreckage. Police have since cordoned off the crash site.
