Four people, including a father and his two 9-year-old daughters, died in the crash of a tourist plane, Saturday afternoon in the town of Gujan-Mestras (Gironde), south of the Arcachon basin .
The accident, which occurred during a first flight, killed four victims, the father and his two twins, who died when the emergency services arrived, and the pilot of the aircraft, told AFP the sub-prefect of Arcachon, Houda Verhnet.
The pilot, who had managed to extricate himself from the aircraft, died shortly after from his injuries.
"
It must have been a day of celebration
", in magnificent weather: the family had embarked for a first flight, carried out privately by the pilot, a licensee of the Aéroclub du Bassin d'Arcachon (ACBA) to whom belonged to the plane, added the sub-prefect.
The aircraft, a Robin DR 400 type tourist plane widely used in flying clubs, crashed around 2:30 p.m. shortly after taking off from Villemarie aerodrome, in La Teste-de-Buch, said the lieutenant-colonel. Laurent Pham, spokesperson for the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis) of the Gironde.
For reasons still unknown, the plane crashed in a pine forest before catching fire.
Firefighters intervened to control the fire that was spreading through the forest, burning 3,500 m2 of pine trees.
The air transport gendarmerie and the Arcachon gendarmerie company were seized of the investigation opened by the Bordeaux prosecutor's office.
In the morning, another passenger plane had crashed in the Belledonne massif, in the town of Laval (Isère), killing three people, including two high school students.
