A French police helicopter belonging to the National Gendarmerie has crashed in the town of Bray-Saint-Aignan, Loiret in north-central France, officials have said
One person has died and two others are seriously injured after a police helicopter crashed in France.
The alarm was sounded on Sunday afternoon after the chopper belonging to the National Gendarmerie crashed in the town of Bray-Saint-Aignan, Loiret.
A massive emergency response had been scrambled, with around 55 firefighters and 44 vehicles were deployed to the scene as crews undertook a search and rescue operation.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described how a gendarme had died in the crash while they were searching for a missing person.
He said: “This afternoon, Adjutant Dorian Larigaudrie of the Châteauneuf-sur-Loire gendarmerie brigade lost his life while on a helicopter operational search mission for a missing person with his comrades from the Villacoublay gendarmerie air force, when their aircraft crashed in the Bray-Saint-Aignan forest.”
Mr Nuñez conveyed his “deep sadness” and passed along “condolences to the family and comrades.”
He added: “My thoughts are warmly with the two wounded soldiers and their loved ones.”
A statement issued by Loiret prefecture indicates that there were “three gendarmes on board.”
“The pilot and the mechanic were evacuated in critical condition to the Orléans University Hospital. The third officer died,” it specified.
An earlier statement from the local prefect read: “All my thoughts are with the French National Gendarmerie following the terrible helicopter accident that occurred in the Loiret.
“Every day in France, thousands of women and men in uniform risk their lives to protect us. The Nation owes them recognition and respect.”
No information has yet been released about the possible cause of the crash. The type of gendarmerie helicopter normally used by the force has a crew of one or two pilots and can hold four to eight passengers.
