A French police helicopter crashed in the mountains of southwestern France on Friday, killing the four officers on board, the local government prefecture said.
The helicopter was participating in a training operation in the mountains not far from the Spanish border when it went down, the Interior Ministry said separately in a statement.
The cause of the accident remains to be identified, it added.
Reuters UK
The helicopter crashed in the Hautes-Pyrénées, the French army said on Friday.
The police helicopter came down in the Hautes-Pyrénées in south western France.
The local prefecture confirmed that all four officers on board – the pilot, a mechanic, and two rescue specialists – had been killed.
The helicopter was participating in a mountain rescue training course, according to France 3. It took off from the airport in Laloubère (yellow star on map below) and came down at nearby Cauterets.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve will meet with the deceased officers’ colleagues this evening, he announced.
It remains unknown what caused the accident at this point, but the Europe1 channel reported that the chopper hit a cliff face.
The crash occurred during an emergency landing attempt after the helicopter’s equipment failed, according to the Depeche du Midi newspaper.
Two helicopters were at the site of the crash searching for the bodies of the victims and debris. The area is difficult to access due to its high altitude
The Gendarmerie Nationale has since updated their Facebook profile picture with a black band as a symbol of mourning.
Later on, the Gendarmerie Nationale tweeted the news and expressed its “strong emotion”.
Other public figures who expressed their condolences after the sad news included French PM Manuel Valls and the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi.
The last helicopter crash in the region took place in 2006, and killed three.
Thelocal.fr
The helicopter came down in a mountainous area of southwest France killing all people aboard, French police have said.
Four members of France’s paramilitary police have died after a helicopter crashed in southwest France, police have said.
The helicopter crashed into a cliff face around Cauterets, a mountainous region of southwest France, killing all four people aboard.
It was participating in a training operation close to the Spanish border when it went down, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The cause of the crash has not yet been identified.
Figures for the number of victims changed several times in a confused initial picture but officials have now confirmed that there were four fatalities.
It has been established that the pilot, co-pilot and two rescue specialists were all killed in the crash.
Sky News
4 die in French Police (Gendarmerie) helicopter crash
