Eleven people were killed after a small aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in eastern France on Sunday, according to local authorities, in what French officials described as a "terrible tragedy."
The victims included the pilot and 10 passengers, among them five students and five instructors from a parachuting school, according to officials in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department.
The aircraft had taken off from Nancy-Essey airfield before crashing in the town of Tomblaine, near the city of Nancy, the BBC reported, citing local media.
French authorities said the plane plunged almost vertically into a built-up area close to a shopping centre and a residential neighbourhood, narrowly avoiding a higher death toll.
"The plane fell almost vertically, in the immediate vicinity of a housing estate, on the edge of the airfield," Yves Seguy, the prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle, told French broadcaster BFM.
Seguy said no bystanders were injured in the crash, describing it as fortunate that the aircraft did not hit nearby homes or commercial buildings.
Police have urged the public to avoid the area around the airport while emergency services and investigators continue their work at the crash site.
French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said he and Interior Minister Laurent Nunez were travelling to the scene, calling the incident a "terrible tragedy."
According to Thierry Pechey, president of the Meurthe-et-Moselle branch of the Order of Independent Nurses, half of the skydivers who died were nurses.
Local officials also said that several relatives of the victims were present at the airfield when the crash occurred.
The cause of the accident remains unknown, and French authorities have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deadly crash.
The tragedy has shocked the local community and raised fresh questions about aviation safety involving recreational and training flights in France.
