France mourns sports stars killed in Argentine crash

ParisFrance was plunged into mourning Tuesday after the deaths of three sports stars including an Olympic champion swimmer and one of the worlds best sailors in a helicopter crash while filming a reality TV show in ArgentinaChampion sailor Florence Arthaud Olympic gold medallist swimmer Camille Muffat and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine were among 10 people killed when two helicopters filming the survival series Dropped smashed into each other in the rugged mountains of La Rioja province local officials saidThe whole of France is in mourning this morning said Prime Minister Manuel Valls Rioja provincial spokesman Horacio Alarcon told AFP there were no survivors in the crash which happened in good weather conditions on MondayLocal media showed the wreckage of the two helicopters in flames on the dry scrubland in the northwestern Argentinian province It was the worst accident in the history of reality television Alongside the three sports stars five French TV crew members and two Argentine pilots died in the crash a police source saidArthaud 57 was considered one of the best sailors in the world a woman who conquered what had been a strictly maledominated sport Her titles included the 1990 Route du Rhum the most prestigious race to cross the Atlantic soloMuffat 25 was one of the top swimmers in French history winning three medals at the London Olympics in 2012 including gold in the 400metres freestyle She shocked the sporting world in June 2014 by announcing her sudden retirement at the age of 24 exhausted by the long hours of training in the poolVastine 28 won a bronze medal at the Beijing games in 2008 in the light welterweight category Immense sadness President Francois Hollande led the tributes saying the brutal death of our compatriots is an immense sadness Muffats former trainer Fabrice Pellerin told French radio station RTL Whats hard is to reconcile the image I have of Camille who was unsinkable with what happenedTo have in my head this strong girl full of the joys of life and then everything stops I have known her since she was 13 so its like Ive lost someone in my family Dropped involved eight sports stars being dropped into inhospitable environments for an adventure and survivalthemed showFellow contestant former France and Arsenal football star Sylvain Wiltord said on Twitter I am sad for my friends I am horrified Im speechless I dont want to say anything The other stars taking part in the show none of them hurt in the accident were swimmer Alain Bernard cyclist Jeannie Longo snowboarder AnneFlore Marxer and figure skater Philippe Candeloro Production halted Weve got people who are way beyond average for their record of achievements thats clear the shows presenter Louis Bodin said in a recent interview with RTL And we can tell that on the ground on all kinds of terrain that theyve got the ability to adapt Of course the logistics the conditions are sometimes a little complicated he said of the show that was to air on French television channel TF1Production company Adventure Line Productions ALP said it was shattered by the tragedy It said it would of course immediately stop production and repatriate the teamsALP was involved in another French reality TV accident in 2013 when a contestant in survival show KohLanta died of a heart attack during filming in Cambodia and a doctor on the programme then committed suicide French prosecutors opened a manslaughter investigation into the accident standard procedure in France when a national dies abroadThe Rioja provincial government said a cast and crew of around 80 people mostly French nationals had descended on the area to film the series Shooting began in late February in Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America in the glacial terrain of Patagonia It then moved to La Rioja whose scenic mountain landscapes are popular with touristsThe crash happened around 500 pm 2000 GMT near the town of Villa Castelli about 1100 kilometres 700 miles north of the capital Buenos Aires said provincial security secretary Cesar Angulo One of the helicopters was provided by the provincial government and the other by the police force in the neighbouring province of Santiago del EsteroPolice and firefighters were still working to recover the victims bodies when night fell using floodlights to illuminate the area Its been four hours since the collision and the wreckage is still on fire Theres smoke rising from the helicopters said a police source at the scene