11 killed in French skydiving plane crash near Nancy

A skydiving plane carrying 11 people crashed almost vertically near Nancy-Essey airfield in Tomblaine, northeastern France, killing everyone on board and landing close to houses and a shopping center. Authorities said the aircraft belonged to a parachutist school and was taking part in a parachute jump when it suffered a malfunction soon after takeoff. The wreckage came down in a built-up residential area, where officials said nearby homes were missed by only a few metres.

The dead were identified as the pilot, five students or clients, and five instructors. French media reported that the trainees were a group of nursing students who had come for tandem skydives, and Mayor Mathieu Klein said the victims “died in full view of their loved ones, who were preparing to film the tandem skydives.” Emergency crews reached the scene quickly, while relatives of the victims were offered psychological support.

Witnesses said they heard the engine stop before the impact and saw no fire or explosion. One resident said the aircraft gave no visible warning of a blast before it hit the ground, reinforcing the accounts that the plane dropped with unusual speed and little horizontal drift. The small aircraft had been operating over the edge of Tomblaine, where the airfield sits close to homes and commercial buildings.

Local officials said the proximity of the crash to the housing blocks meant the toll could have been worse. “Give or take a few metres,” one official said, the aircraft might have caused additional casualties if it had fallen slightly differently. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot were expected to visit the scene as investigators worked to determine why the plane failed so soon after departure.

The crash was quickly described as one of France’s deadliest light-aircraft accidents. That scale, combined with the fact that the aircraft was operating as part of a commercial adventure flight, is likely to put scrutiny on maintenance records, pilot training, aircraft certification and the oversight standards applied to small skydiving schools that carry paying passengers and trainees over populated areas.