Helicopter crash kills six

SIX people died when their helicopter crashed in France's "Grand Canyon", the Gorges du Verdon, north-east of Cannes.

The men were the pilot, two engineers and three flight technicians from Eurocopter and were on a proving flight when the military Cougar destined for the Albanian army hit a power cable and crashed on to the river bank 700m below.

Pompiers had difficulty reaching the site deep in the gorge and the first people to reach the site at La-Palud-sur-Verdon between Moustiers Sainte-Marie and Castellane were a dozen hikers in what is a well-known and popular walking area.

The accident happened around 13.30 and hikers told TV news crews that they had heard the helicopter approaching and it hit a cable supplying power to the prominent Chalet de la Maline on the clifftop.

First reports said that it was a French military helicopter that had crashed - part of the gorge is a military training area - but this was later corrected and Eurocopter said it was a Cougar AS532 AL, the military version of the Super Puma.

It was a newly-built aircraft that had taken off on a test flight from the company's base at Marignane airfield, near Marseille. The AS532 AL can carry 25 troops.

Air crash investigators from the Bureau Enquête et Accident Défense have travelled to the site to find out more on what caused the crash and to search for the black box flight recorder.

Earlier this month a Super Puma helicopter had to ditch into the North Sea off Aberdeen after a gearbox shaft cracked.
Photo: Eurocopter