Bodies from helicopter crash in Argentina repatriated to France

Two helicopters collided during filming for new show on March 9
All ten people died in the crash including eight French nationals
Sports stars Camille Muffat, Alexis Vastine and Florence Arthaud died
Five crew members and two Argentine pilots were also killed
Paris prosecutors have opened manslaughter inquiry into the crash

Chris Pleasance

and
Lydia Willgress for MailOnline

Published:
17:23 GMT, 22 March 2015

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Updated:
17:56 GMT, 22 March 2015

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The bodies of three French sports stars killed in a helicopter crash in Argentina while taking part in a reality TV show have arrived back in Paris.

Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat, sailor Florence Arthaud and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine died after the horrific accident on the evening of March 9.

Relatives and officials gathered at the Charles de Gaulle Airport to pay their respects at a small ceremony earlier this morning.

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The bodies of three French sports stars killed in a helicopter crash in Argentina have arrived back in Paris

Five other French nationals - Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles - were also killed in the incident.

They were taking part in a survival series called Dropped for French TV when the crash happened in a mountain range in the La Rioja province in north-west Argentina. Ten people died and there were no survivors.

Their coffins, which each had a personalised silver plaque, were removed from the plane around 11am and will be buried at a different service.

They were watched by French Sports Minister Patrick Kanner, the Argentine ambassador and Nonce Paolini, who heads the TF1 channel that was producing the television programme.

The show, which was immediately cancelled after the crash, had planned to blindfold sports stars and take them into rugged environments, giving them 72 hours to get to a place where they could charge a mobile phone.

After the crash a cattle farmer told how he rushed to one of the helicopters to try to rescue survivors - but he was beaten back by the heat and smoke.

Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat, sailor Florence Arthaud and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine died in the accident on the evening of March 9. They were repatriated alongside five other French nationals who were crew members

Officials arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport (left) to pay their respects. The coffins, which each had a personalised silver plaque, were removed from the plane (right) and will be buried at a different service

The coffins were loaded carefully into vans in La Rioja, where the accident took place, on March 17

A coffin plaque engraved with Camille-Marie Manuella Muffat lays on a bench alongside more plaques engraved with the names of other helicopter crash victims

David Ocampo said: 'One of the helicopters sounded as if it was firing off shots or experiencing small explosions that were completely out of place.

'There were about five metres between the two of them, but the one in front seemed to stop and that caught my attention.

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'The other one smashed into it from behind with its propellor after trying to swerve to avoid it and fell to the ground and exploded. The earth shook when they fell.

'I rushed towards it to see if there were any survivors but it was just a ball of flame.

The terrifying moment the two helicopters smashed into each other before spiralling to the ground was caught on camera

There were no survivors in the crash, which claimed ten lives. Above, one of the helicopters is left in pieces on the dirt floor after the crash

The sports stars were taking part in a survival series called Dropped for French TV when the crash happened

'I couldn't see anything really, just smoke and the tail of one of the two helicopters between the bushes.'

Prosecutors in Paris opened a manslaughter inquiry after the incident. Initial investigations indicated the crash was caused by human error, officials said.

The remaining victims were identified as Argentine pilots Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate.

French President Francois Hollande said at the time: 'The brutal demise of our compatriots is an immense sadness.'

THE TALENTED SPORTS STARS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES

Camille Muffat is an Olympic swimmer and 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.