Olympians’ bodies recovered
CRASHED: ALL 10 ABOARD TWO CHOPPERS CARRYING REALITY TV SHOW CONTESTANTS DEAD
Paris prosecutor’s office opens probe into possible involuntary manslaughter.
Buenos Aires/Paris
Investigators yesterday recovered all 10 bodies from a remote site in Argentina where helicopters serving a reality TV show collided, killing prominent French athletes and leaving the European nation in mourning.
The helicopters crashed on Monday afternoon near Villa Castelli, about 1 170km northwest of Buenos Aires, according to La Rioja regional Secretary of Security Cesar Angulo. All aboard – eight French nationals and two Argentine pilots – were killed.
The helicopters came down about 15 metres apart and were completely destroyed. One was so charred that only the blades were recognisable.
Among the dead were Olympic champion swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer and bronze-medalist Alexis Vastine and pioneering sailor Florence Arthaud. They had been among the contestants in the reality TV show Dropped.
The bodies were being transported to the regional capital of La Rioja province for autopsies, Judge Virginia Illanes Bordon said. At the site investigators pulled charred items from the wreckage in the dry scrubland of a sparsely populated area along the Andes mountain range that separates Argentina and Chile.
The crash was believed to be one the deadliest incidents yet related to reality TV shows, some of which take celebrities and others to far-flung places.
French President Francois Hollande expressed “immense sadness” at the deaths, and the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into possible involuntary manslaughter, a French police official said.
The other victims were Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles, and pilots Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate.
“The helicopter from La Rioja was a Eurocopter with a capacity to hold six people. It appears to have brushed against the other helicopter from Santiago del Este- ro shortly after takeoff,” the provincial government said.
A video purportedly shot at the scene shows the blades of one helicopter hitting the rails of the second, causing the crash. It is believed to be authentic. – Sapa-AP