On the afternoon of Thursday, May 9, a passenger plane crashed while taking off at the Chambéry-Challes-les-Eaux aerodrome, in Savoie. The two people on board, a couple of Austrian nationals, lost their lives, indicates the Savoie prefecture.
Around 4:10 p.m., a tourist plane took off from the Chambéry-Challes-les-Eaux aerodrome in Savoie. Just as it had just left the ground, the aircraft suddenly plunged back towards the ground, crashing at the end of the runway, a few dozen meters from the tarmac.
“The two occupants of the passenger plane died in the crash. The plane is completely destroyed”, indicates Laurence Tur, secretary general of the Savoie prefecture. The bodies of the two victims were found charred when emergency services arrived.
The victims are an Austrian couple
“The two victims, a man and a woman in their fifties, are an Austrian couple”indicates the Chambéry public prosecutor’s office which specifies that a “flagrant investigation for manslaughter has been opened”.
Around twenty firefighters were dispatched to the scene. Also on site, around twenty gendarmes from the Air Transport Brigade and the Challes-les-Eaux brigade.
The aircraft, a recent model, ended its journey in a gravel pit on the site of the earthmoving company ATP Service, a few dozen meters from the tarmac.
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© FTV
According to the first elements of the investigation, the aircraft crashed a few moments after takeoff. “The passenger plane crashed into a gravel pit located at the end of the runway, about fifty meters from the tarmac,” explains Captain Jean-François Laporte, commander of the Chambéry gendarmerie company.
The plane had just refueled
“The plane, passing through the region, had just refueled at the Chambéry aerodrome”adds Captain Laporte. The victims were accompanied by two friends, two men also of Austrian nationality, who were on board a second aircraft. This other plane had taken off just before and quickly turned around.”
“These two men will be questioned as soon as possible but they do not speak French. Interpreters will be assigned,” specifies the gendarmerie.
Crash scene frozen, house evacuated
For the moment, the causes of this crash remain undetermined. A security perimeter was established around the wreck while awaiting the arrival of civil security deminers called to the scene to “check the possible presence of an explosive device in the plane“.
A home, located about fifty meters from the crash site, was evacuated. Three people, a couple and their child, were forced to leave their home located within the security perimeter.
The crash scene is currently “frozen” to avoid any further accidents and the bodies of the victims are still in the rubble, noted the France 3 Alpes team present on site.
Indeed, according to our information, this model of plane – recent – was equipped with an emergency parachute, supposed to deploy in the event of a crash and breakage of the tail of the aircraft, using a device pyrotechnic, potentially dangerous for investigators present on site.
Investigators from the Orly air transport research section will also be dispatched to the scene to try to determine the precise circumstances and causes of the accident. “They are expected there Friday morning”specifies Captain Laporte.
