At least 11 people in France were killed as a small civilian aircraft crashed in the eastern city of Tomblaine, news agency AFP reported citing local authorities.
The plane crashed near the city of Nancy at 11 am local time, Yves Séguy, 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.
The local prefecture said that the plane belonged to a parachutist school. All 11 occupants of the aircraft, including five students, five instructors and the pilot, were killed in the accident.
The French interior ministry took note of the incident and said that the interior minister was on his way to the scene.
The cause of the crash was immediately not clear.
According to AFP, the Germany-registered aircraft crashed in a grassy area near the runway of the Nancy-Essey aerodrome, close to a residential area and two roads.
Medical and psychological support teams were caring for relatives of the victims who were present at the airfield, as well as other witnesses.
A technical investigation had been opened, said Amaury Lacote, deputy public prosecutor in the eastern city of Nancy.
Earlier, French authorities said they were responding to an incident involving a civilian aircraft. “An incident is currently underway in the municipality of Tomblaine involving a civil aircraft that took off from Nancy-Essey aerodrome,” the local prefecture said in a post on X.
“Yves Segyt, prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle, has decided to activate the departmental operational center (COD) in the presence of all operational services in order to ensure real-time monitoring of the event. The prefect is on site,” it added.
Police had also asked public to avoid the Salvador Allende Street area entirely.
“To keep access clear for emergency services and law enforcement, do not go to the scene. Thank you for facilitating their intervention,” police said in a post on X.
