By Christian Hartmann
TOMBLAINE, France, June 28 (Reuters) – Eleven people, including a pilot and 10 parachutists, were killed when a small plane crashed in the northeastern French town of Tomblaine on Sunday, narrowly missing nearby homes as their families watched, officials and a witness said.
The aircraft, used by a parachuting school and carrying five trainee parachutists and five instructors, went down shortly after take-off from Nancy-Essey airport, officials said.
Some of the trainees’ family members were at the small regional airport and witnessed the crash, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters.
“The plane crashed about 300 meters from the runway,” he told reporters at the scene. “The emotion here is intense.”
A witness who declined to be identified told Reuters the plane was climbing at around 11:00 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) when the engine noise suddenly stopped, as if it had cut out. He said he saw no fire, explosion or other visible sign of a problem before the crash.
Yves Seguy, the regional prefect, told BFM the aircraft plunged vertically to the ground. The crash occurred in a residential area near a shopping centre, with the wreckage of the single-engine plane sitting on a bike path.
“Give or take a few meters and the accident could have caused collateral casualties,” Seguy said.
Media reports said the aircraft was registered in Germany. Germany’s foreign ministry did not immediately comment.
It was not immediately clear 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.
The local prosecutor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Christian Hartmann in Tomblaine, Makini Brice and Bertrand Boucey in Paris and Dave Graham in Zurich; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Ros Russell)
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