Two helicopters collided and crashed in La Rioja province in northwestern Argentina on March 9, killing eight French passengers and two Argentine pilots, according to the Associated Press. The helicopters were carrying crew of a popular European reality show, “Dropped,” in which world-class athletes survive in extreme areas of the world and find civilization. Among the dead were Olympic gold medalist swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine and pioneering sailor Florence Arthaud, according to AP.A video captured the accident, showing the helicopters hitting the other, and both descending from loss of control. The helicopters crashed into the ground 50 feet apart, catching fire and leaving the remains to be charred and nearly unrecognizable, according to AP. Because of the harsh terrain, investigators weren’t able to reach the crash until the following day to recover the bodies.Daniel Gorkich, an aviation director in the area in Argentina, said the pilots were highly trained and the strong winds and afternoon sun could have caused the accident, according to AP.Family and citizens in Argentina and France mourned for the dead. President Francois Holland told AP he felt “immense sadness,” and the Olympic Committee announced its flag would be flown at half-staff for three days. Students at BYU-Hawaii said they were concerned for the families and loved ones of the victims. “That’s tough for the family situation. Their families, I’m sure, thought they were going on a show,” said senior Kendall Pefley, an international cultural studies major from California. “You can’t really prevent something like that.”There were memorials for Muffat, the 25-year-old champion swimmer, who won gold in 400-meter freestyle as well as silver and bronze at the London Olympics. Vastine, an Olympic wrestler, who won a bronze in 2008 in Beijing, was hoping to compete in the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, according to AP. Arthaud was the first woman to win the Route de Rhum race, “a trans-Atlantic single-handed yacht race between Brittany and the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe,” AP reported.The helicopters collided near Villa Castelli, a small town in the Andean foothills, said AP. “That would be so hard,” said Mikaela Tauili’ili, a senior majoring in accounting from Western Samoa. “And for people seeing that, you don’t expect to see helicopters blow up right there.”Other victims of the crash included the crew for the reality television show, including Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert, Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, and Edouard Gilles, according to AP. The other two victims were the pilots, Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate.Zoe Welliver, a sophomore studying English from Canada, commented, “I worry about all those people. They all have families and all of them are affected.”According to AP, the crash was one of the deadliest incidents related to reality TV shows. Louis Bodin told news sources that the show would be suspended, but “maybe in the future we’ll pick it back up because the concept is beautiful. At the moment, we are very sad.”Uploaded March 20, 2015
Writer: Rachel Reed
