France mourns athletes killed in crash
Nation in shock as 10 die in Argentina chopper disaster while filming reality show
PARIS— Florence Arthaud had competed in solo trans-Atlantic sailing races at the age of 20. Camille Muffat captured three swimming medals at the 2012 London Olympics, including in the gruelling 400 freestyle. Alexis Vastine had fought his way to a bronze medal in boxing at the Beijing Games four years earlier.
Late on Monday, all three French athletes were onboard two helicopters heading into a remote gorge in northwestern Argentina for the filming of a reality show, Dropped, in which they would be left to fend for themselves and find their way back to civilization.
But at some point, perhaps soon after taking off, the helicopters touched briefly then fell to the ground, killing the athletes and seven other people onboard, officials and witnesses said. A video posted in the Argentine media showed the moment of contact.
The athletes’ deaths, in a country that holds sports stars in high esteem, brought reactions of shock and grief from political leaders and fellow competitors alike Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters at the Élysée Palace, President François Hollande hailed the athletes as trailblazers. “Here again, they wanted to push boundaries and make feats, countries and regions known to the world,” he said.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls wrote on Twitter that “all of France is grieving this morning.” Thierry Braillard, junior minister for sports, told BFM TV that French athletics had lost “three stars.”
The five other French victims were staff members at Adventure Line Productions, which was producing the program for the channel TF1. Franck Firmin-Guion, the president of Adventure Line, said in a statement that the collision had taken place during filming for the second episode of the show and that his teams were “devastated” by the news.
The other two victims were the Argentine pilots of the helicopters, identified as Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate. They were former military pilots, local news media reported.
Argentina’s state news agency reported that the flying conditions had been ideal at the time of the crash. The mayor of a nearby town, Villa Castelli, described the downed helicopters, which witnesses said exploded after the contact, as “totally burned.”
About 80 people were working on the program in the province of La Rioja, near the Chilean border, provincial officials said.
Agence France-Presse reported Tuesday that judicial authorities in Paris had opened an involuntary manslaughter investigation, as is usual in fatal incidents involving French citizens abroad.
Muffat, 25, had won gold, silver and bronze medals at the 2012 London Olympic Games and had retired from professional sports last year. Vastine, 28, had won a bronze medal at the 2008 games in Beijing in the 60 to 64 kilogram class. His 21-year- old sister, also a boxer, was killed several months ago in a road accident.
Arthaud, 57, was a symbolic figure in France and the yachting world. She was given the nickname “la Petite Fiancée de l’Atlantique (Little Fiancée of the Atlantic)” for her exploits in the Route du Rhum, the trans-Atlantic solo sailing race in which she first participated in at age 20. After she won it in 1990, she was named champion of the year by a French sporting newspaper, L’Equipe.
Several other French athletes were taking part in the show but were not involved in the accident, including the figure skater Philippe Candeloro; the swimmer Alain Bernard; and Sylvain Wiltord, a former soccer player for the French national team and Arsenal.