According to dailymail.co.uk report Prosecutors today opened a manslaughter inquiry after ten people including three French Olympic stars were killed in a midair crash between two helicopters in Argentina.
Camille Muffat, 25, a swimmer who won gold in the women’s 400m freestyle in 2012, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, 28, who won bronze in Beijing 2008, and champion sailor Florence Arthaud, 58, were all among the dead.
They died alongside two Argentine pilots and five other French nationals when two helicopters filming the survival series Dropped smashed into each other in a rugged mountain range.
Prosecutors in Paris have opened a manslaughter inquiry, although it was still unclear what caused the accident in La Rioja province.
A statement from local government officials identified the remaining victims as Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles, as well as Argentine pilots Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate. The accident happened at around 5pm on Monday shortly after the two aircraft took off in a mountainous region of La Rioja, in Argentina’s north west.
Disel Cuneo, government spokesman for the province, said: ‘There are several French nationals among the victims. So far we only know of two Argentine victims.’ There were unconfirmed reports that one of the victims died after jumping out of one of the helicopters seconds before they crashed. Another provincial spokesman, Horacio Alarcon, said that the two helicopters appeared to have collided during filming.
‘There are no survivors,’ he added.
Camille Muffat was a former world record holder for the 400m women’s freestyle from 2012 until 2013.
She won gold during the 400m freestyle at London 2012, earned silver in the women’s 200m freestyle and a bronze as a member of the women’s 4×200m freestyle relay.
She was the third Frenchwoman in history to earn three medals in a summer or winter Olympic Games and was named the 2012 French Sportswoman of the Year.
She shocked the sporting world in June by announcing her sudden retirement at the age of 24, exhausted by the long hours of training in the pool.
Alexis Vastine won bronze for boxing in the Light Welterweight category at the Beijing Olympics, and competed at London 2012, but was knocked out in the quarter finals.
Florence Arthaud was regarded as one of the world’s best sailors, and won the Route du Rhum, a transatlantic single-handed yacht race that takes place every four years.
She took first place in 1990 with her boat Pierre 1er.
