Two planes collide mid-air in France, five dead

PARIS: An ultra-light airplane has collided with another small plane, killing five people as the two aircraft fell into gardens around a town southeast of France’s capital.

Local media reports quoted Mayor Marc Angenault as saying that the collision occurred in the skies above Loche, about 50 kilometres from Tours, southeast of Paris between an ultralight airplane and a small tourist aircraft.

Two of the dead were in the ultra-light aeroplane which crashed on a house’s fence in a populated area near the town centre. The three other victims were in a four-seat DR400 aircraft which fell in an unpopulated area.

Fifty firefighters and 30 gendarmes were deployed to secure the area. The victims were yet to be identified and an investigation has been launched to determine what happened.

In a similar incident in July this year, at least eight people died after two planes collided with each other mid-air over a United States (US) lake.

A report carried by a US media outlet quoted Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ryan Higgins that the two planes collided over Coeur d’Alene Lake in Idaho and then sank. He said that many people witnessed the incident or its aftermath as they were boating on the lake during the holiday weekend.

Higgins said that a call came in for two planes that had collided over the lake and two victims, both deceased, were recovered from the aircraft before they sank.

“The remaining six victims including adults and children are still unaccounted for but are believed to be dead,” Higgins said.

The cause of the plane crash and the number of passengers onboard both the planes are yet to be ascertained, he said.