Bodies of French Olympians recovered in Argentina air crash

March 10, 2015 at 11:01 a.m. | Updated March 10, 2015 at 1:35 p.m.

by The Associated Press

A poster of the recently killed Olympic gold medalist swimmer Camille Muffat is hung Tuesday, March, 10, 2015, at the City Hall of Nice, southeastern France. Argentine recovery teams arrived on March 10 at the site of a helicopter collision to recover the bodies of 10 people, including Muffat, 25, who was participating in a reality TV show.
A poster of the recently killed Olympic gold medalist swimmer Camille Muffat is hung Tuesday, March, 10, 2015, at the City Hall of Nice, southeastern France. Argentine recovery teams arrived on March 10 at the site of a helicopter collision to recover the bodies of 10 people, including Muffat, 25, who was participating in a reality TV show.

VILLA CASTELLI, Argentina — Investigators on Tuesday recovered all 10 bodies from a remote site in Argentina where helicopters serving a reality TV show collided, killing prominent French athletes and leaving the European nation in mourning.

The helicopters crashed Monday afternoon near Villa Castelli, about 730 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, said La Rioja regional Secretary of Security Cesar Angulo. All aboard — eight French citizens and two Argentine pilots — were killed.

The helicopters came down about 50 feet apart and were completely destroyed. One of the aircraft was so charred that only the blades were recognizable.

Among the dead were Olympic champion swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer and bronze-medalist Alexis Vastine, and pioneering sailor Florence Arthaud. They had been among the contestants in the reality TV show Dropped.

Read Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Upcoming Events