Eleven people have died after a civilian aircraft crashed in north-eastern France, reported AP, citing local authorities. The pilot and 10 parachutists were killed in the incident. The small plane crashed in Tomblaine, narrowly missing nearby homes.
The aircraft, used by a parachuting school and carrying five trainee parachutists and five instructors, went down shortly after take-off.
The plane crashed near the city of Nancy at 11 a.m. local time, Yves Seguy, the prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle region, told reporters near the scene of the crash.
Emergency services responded immediately, and authorities were collecting witness statements, he said.
Seguy told BFM that the aircraft plunged vertically to the ground.
An eyewitness told Reuters that the plabe was climbing when the engine noise suddenly stopped, as if it was cut out and he saw no fire or explosion before the crash.
The report said that it was unclear if the extreme heat played a role in the incident, with the highest temperature ever recorded in Nancy – the city near Tomblaine – one day earlier.
According to reports, the aircraft was registered in Germany.
In a separate incident, fourteen people were killed after a helicopter belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco crashed in Ras Tanura. The cause of the crash was unknown, and an investigation is ongoing. Ras Tanura sits on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast on the Gulf.
“Investigations are under way, with the participation of relevant authorities, to determine the causes of the helicopter crash,” the state news agency added.
Aramco had resumed crude oil loadings on Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf after they were halted for nearly four months. Ras Tanura houses Saudi Aramco’s largest domestic refinery and a key crude export terminal.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has joined a rush to move cargoes after Middle East producers ramped up oil and gas output and exports as Iran and the United States reached an interim deal to halt the war.