Two Brits dead in Riviera plane crash

Mont Agel in the Monegasque background, where the Balmer's plane came down

James Balmer, 68, and his wife Jacqueline, 54, from Circencester in Gloucestershire, were killed when their light aircraft crashed on Mont Agel, just north of the Principality. The area is a notoriously dangerous spot for aircraft, being the site of two fatal helicopter crashes this year alone.

They were thought to be travelling from the Italian town of Luca, in Tuscany to the French town of Troyes, when their twin engine Piper PA-39 came down in fog around midday on Friday.

Eyewitnesses reported that they saw an airplane flying very low across the region. The French authorities launched a search and rescue operation shortly after the aircraft lost radio contact, around 11.30am. Rescue teams discovered the wreckage at around 3.40pm following a four hour search.

Mrs Balmer was a celebrated stuntwoman and TV personality in the UK. She "jumped further than any man or woman in history" by breaking the Long Distance Car Ramp Jump Record in 1983.