26.07.2012 1

Provence & Côte d'Azur: the aircraft is believed to have struck a power line before crashing in to the mountainous range

Six die in helicopter crash

Investigations are continuing into a helicopter crash that left a total of six people dead in the Gorges du Verdon on Wednesday. A pilot and five engineers from the company Eurocopter all perished when the aircraft went down after it is believed to have hit an electricity cable.

All six people on board the helicopter died when it crashed in the Gorges du Verdon near the village of La Palud sur Verdon. Photo: Haute Var Tourism

The EADS-owned company has confirmed that the helicopter was a Cougar AS-532 and was being tested by the group of test pilots and engineers before it was due to be delivered to the Albanian army.

The crash occurred at around 1.40pm and major rescue teams were sent to the scene along with three water-bombing helicopters, but the steep terrain inhibited rescue efforts.

The owner of a hotel in the village of Aiguines, Laurence Fortini, told The Associated Press that she rushed to the hotel’s terrace after hearing a “loud, abnormal sound,” and then saw the helicopter plunge into the river below.

Some media are reporting that the helicopter came down close to a group of hikers and that one person was slightly injured. That information is yet to be confirmed.

The helicopter that went down was a Cougar AS-532 The Cougar helicopter had taken off from a heliport near Marseille. A short time later it crashed in a ball of flames close to the village of La Palud sur Verdon in the Alpes de Haute Provence.

The Gorges du Verdon is considered to be Europe’s 'Grand Canyon'. Running at 700 metres deep, its pristine turquoise water and adventurous hiking trails attract thousands of visitors each year.

The identities of the victims are yet to be revealed.

Cassandra Tanti

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Comment by Thomas | 27.07.2012

We stood on parking area 200m away when helicopted came below us in canyon from Verdon lake direction. Suddenly it made very strange "S" curve manouvre, like acrobation and very shiny, oval thing (like missille) flew out horizontaly on right side of river. In next 4-5 seconds it was down. First started to rotate horizontaly, made 4 cirquits very quickly (I supposed that they have problems with vertical stabilizator). Then one of main elisa blade broke, the tail turn down, and the helicopter fall down and exploded. I'm very sorry for all those engineers and their families.

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