Overview
- A small aircraft used by a parachuting school crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday, killing all 11 people on board: the pilot and ten parachutists consisting of five students and five instructors.
- Wreckage fell about 300 meters from the Nancy-Essey runway onto a bike path near a shopping center in the urban area of Tomblaine, and there were no reported casualties on the ground.
- Local authorities secured the scene, asked the public to avoid the area, and deployed firefighters, police and medical-psychological teams while the Interior Minister traveled to the site.
- The plane was reported to be a Pilatus with German registration, but investigators have not determined a cause and have opened a formal technical inquiry.
- Officials are completing victim identification and the probe may prompt closer review of parachuting operations, safety checks and aircraft maintenance as investigators seek what triggered the crash.