Albertville, 12/10/2020: After the crash of a French Air Rescue helicopter in Bonvillard in Savoy which left five dead on Tuesday the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin went on site.

ALLILI MOURAD / SIPA / 2012101817 -

ALLILI MOURAD / SIPA

  • On December 8, five people were killed in the crash of an SAF mountain rescue helicopter near Albertville in Savoie.

  • Only the pilot survived and today seems out of danger.

  • A judicial investigation, entrusted to an investigating judge of the Albertville judicial court, was opened on Monday on counts of “manslaughter and unintentional injury” against X.

Almost a week after the accident, the circumstances and the causes of the tragedy remain unclear.

A judicial investigation, entrusted to an investigating judge of the Albertville judicial court, was opened this Monday on counts of "manslaughter and unintentional injury" against X after the crash of a mountain rescue helicopter that occurred on the 8th. December evening in (Savoie), learned

20 Minutes

 from the prosecution.

At around 7 p.m. on the day of the incident, a rescue helicopter, an Airbus EC135 of the French Air Service (SAF), crashed at an altitude of 1,800 m with six people on board.

Among them, two police officers of the CRS Alpes - the unit commander and a brigadier - and four members of the private company SAF - a student pilot, a winch trainer and a student winch man - died.

Only one member of the crew survived: the instructor pilot.

This survivor had succeeded in alerting the emergency services after extracting himself from the device and had been rescued by a land caravan of fifteen men who had moved with difficulty in the hilly area, very snowy that evening.

"He was rushed to Grenoble University Hospital, he was able to be operated on Thursday and his life no longer appears to be in danger," said Albertville prosecutor Anne Gaches, in a statement.

Since then, a first hearing of the pilot has been carried out establishing that, on the day of the accident, several rotations were carried out during the day, on board the helicopter, by different teams, carrying out various exercises and training.

Documents and device parts seized

Immediately seized by the prosecution, 20 gendarmes belonging to different services went to the scene of the crash, "in order to make the first useful findings, by foot all day Wednesday because of the persistent bad weather, then by air on Thursday morning, ”adds the same source.

More than thirty hearings were also carried out by the investigators, including several relating to the organization and preparation of the flight with the personnel of the SAF.

"Many documents were also seized as well as the various parts of the aircraft for their expertise by the specialized services of the air transport gendarmerie", adds the prosecutor's office in Albertville.

The Civil Aviation Investigation and Analysis Office is associated with this analysis.

The forthcoming investigations, in the context of judicial information, "will aim to specify the circumstances of the accident and if necessary to determine the causes", concludes the prosecution.

To pay tribute to the victims, a ceremony is scheduled for early Tuesday afternoon in the Savoie prefecture in Chambéry.

Society

Helicopter crash in Savoie: What do we know the day after the accident that claimed the lives of five people?

Miscellaneous

Savoy: Five dead in the crash of an emergency helicopter

  • Helicopter

  • Police

  • Accident

  • Rescue

  • Investigation

  • Mountain

  • Crash

  • Society