The accident occurred in Tomblaine, outside the city of Nancy. It is the deadliest air accident of its kind in the country, excluding military and commercial crashes, the French aviation safety authority said.
According to Yves Séguy, prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, the plane encountered problems immediately after takeoff and “fell almost vertically” towards buildings and roads.
It's tragic, but it could have been much worse, says the mayor of Nancy, Mathieu Klein, adding that houses were only "a few metres" away.
On board were five instructors and five nursing colleagues who were about to parachute for the first time. Their relatives were waiting on the ground, ready to film the jump, when the accident occurred.
