An alarm was raised with French authorities early Sunday morning (June 28) following the crash of a small civilian aircraft in the town of Tomblen, in northeastern France, according to a statement from the prefecture.

According to French media, citing the local prefecture, all 11 people on board were killed.

Specifically, the pilot and two groups of five skydivers who were on their way to a freefall jump lost their lives.

The aircraft had taken off from Nancy-Essey Airport.

The tragic accident occurred shortly after takeoff, and authorities are investigating the causes of the crash.

According to the information available so far, the aircraft was a German “Pilatus.” It should be noted that this particular aircraft model is traditionally used to transport skydivers and for skydiving.

One of the deadliest accidents of its kind in France

The crash of this aircraft in Tomblen ranks among the deadliest accidents involving a plane conducting a skydiving flight in France in decades. Although there are dozens of skydiving clubs in the country and hundreds of thousands of jumps are made each year, crashes involving aircraft carrying skydivers are extremely rare. Most fatalities in the sport involve accidents during the descent or landing, rather than the aircraft itself.

The most well-known such accident occurred in 1990 near Lance, when a plane carrying skydivers crashed shortly after takeoff due to engine failure, resulting in the loss of nine people. The Toblen tragedy, with 11 fatalities is now one of the deadliest disasters of its kind in modern French aviation history.