Two people were been killed in a helicopter crash several hundred metres off the coast of Mandelieu-La Napoule on Thursday 11th January.
According to the Nice Matin, the first witnesses of the crash reported seeing the helicopter come down and collide with the water at around 4pm. The site of the crash is believed to have been 300 metres out from the mouth of the River Siagne.
Ahead of finding the helicopter, Commander Xavier Wiik, who is reported to have been leading the search and rescue operation, was quoted in the Nice Matin as saying, “There is no debris on the surface, only oil slicks.”
It reportedly took until after 6pm for Wiik and his crew to locate the wreckage of the aircraft, which has been flagged by the local press as a Robinson R22 helicopter.
According to comments published in the Nice Matin, Mayor of Mandelieu Sébastien Leroy later revealed, “The helicopter, which is from a training school, took off from the Cannes-Mandelieu Airport a little before 4pm.”
TWO VICTIMS
Two people are understood to have been inside the sunken aircraft: a man and a woman. The identities of the deceased have not yet been confirmed by investigators, but France 3 has reported that the female was a 35-year-old instructor while the 27-year-old male was her student.
The Parquet de Grasse is handling the investigations into the tragic incident.
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Photos via Sébastien Leroy, Facebook