Sad news reached our newsroom during the night. Three men – including a firefighter from the Bouches-du-Rhône and two Civil Protection staff members – died in a helicopter crash last night.
The accident took place in Rove, a few kilometres south of Marignane Air Base. The three rescue workers were flying towards the Var region to assist the many firefighters already on the scene. Two other people died.
“Whilst their Civil Protection EC145 helicopter was en route to Le Luc-Le Cannet (Var) to carry out a reconnaissance and rescue mission, radio and radar contact was lost. Despite the deployment of significant search resources under the SATER plan, the three occupants of the helicopter were found dead at 1.30 am near the town of Le Rove (Bouches-du-Rhône).”, explained Interior Minister Christophe Castaner and his Secretary of State Laurent Nuñez in a statement.