A skydiving plane crashed Sunday in Tomblaine in eastern France, killing all 11 people on board, local authorities said.
Yves Seguy, the prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, said the crash killed five instructors, five students and the pilot and called it one of the country's deadliest ever light aircraft accidents.
The students were a group of nurses, a source close to the case confirmed and Thierry Pechey, head of Meurthe-et-Moselle's nursing council, said: "They were colleagues who had decided to go on a first skydiving jump, no doubt to unwind, as we're going through a difficult time with the heatwave."
Mathieu Klein, the mayor of the nearby city of Nancy, said the victims "died in full view of their loved ones, who were preparing to film the tandem skydives," and local authorities said medical and psychological support teams were caring for relatives and other witnesses.
The aircraft, registered in Germany, crashed in a grassy area near the runway of the Nancy-Essey aerodrome, close to a residential area and two roads, an AFP journalist reported, and Klein said the plane crashed "just a few meters from homes."
Herve Feron, the mayor of Tomblaine, said the plane fell "in a completely unexplained manner ...during the ascent" and described it as crashing "straight down," adding the aircraft had been "chartered for the occasion, for the skydiving weekend, as is regularly done."
Amaury Lacote, the deputy public prosecutor in Nancy, said the cause was not immediately clear and that a technical investigation had been opened, police urged people on X to "strictly avoid" the area to allow emergency services access, and Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot were expected to visit the scene later that afternoon.