Eleven people have died after a civilian aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in the town of Tomblaine in eastern France, local authorities said. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
The incident occurred on June 28, 2026. The pilot and 10 passengers – five students and five instructors – died. The plane, used by a parachutist school, had taken off from Nancy-Essey airfield. Police urged the public to avoid the area around the airport in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department.
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot called it a "terrible tragedy" and said he and interior minister Laurent Nunez were travelling to the scene. Yves Seguy, the prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle, said no bystanders were injured, according to AFP. The crash occurred in a built-up area near a shopping centre.
"The plane fell almost vertically, in the immediate vicinity of a housing estate, on the edge of the airfield," Seguy told BFM, adding it was lucky there were no additional victims. Half of the skydivers who died were nurses, Thierry Pechey, president of the Meurthe-et-Moselle branch of the Order of Independent Nurses, told BFM. Local officials also said relatives of the victims were present at the airfield when the crash happened.