Eight French nationals including Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine were among 10 people killed when two helicopters collided in Argentina on Monday (March 10) during the filming of a TV adventure show, authorities said.
The accident happened in the rugged western province of La Rioja near the Andes mountains, local authorities said.
“The sudden death of our fellow French nationals is a cause of immense sadness,” a statement from French President Francois Hollande’s office in Paris said.
It added that famed sailor Florence Arthaud and several members of the ALP TV Production Company involved in shooting the adventure show “Dropped” for TF1 were among the dead.
Arthaud, 57, was one of the first women who carve a place for herself in the world of sailing and in 1990 secured the record for the fastest solitary crossing of the North Atlantic, according to her publisher’s site.
Muffat, 25, won gold at the 2012 London Olympics. Vastine, 28, won bronze at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
“I am sad for my friends, I’m shaking, I’m horrified, I can’t find the words,” Tweeted Sylvain Wiltord, the former French footballer and a cast member of “Dropped”.
The victims included the helicopters’ two pilots, Cesar Angulo, La Rioja’s security chief, told reporters earlier.
“There were no survivors, according to the information we have,” Angulo said.
Argentina’s official news agency Telam said one of the helicopters belonged to the provincial government and the other to organizers of a survival competition that had been held for three years near the village of Villa Castelli.
(Reuters)
