Six employees of aircraft maker Eurocopter were killed when their helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of southeast France yesterday during a test flight, police and company officials said.
The crash occurred around 1.30 pm local time (11.30 GMT) in a section of the Verdon Gorge in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region near the border with Italy, according to local police.
A preliminary investigation suggested the helicopter could have hit an electric cable.
Eurocopter, a unit of European aerospace group EADS , said in a statement that the craft was a Cougar AS532 AL helicopter and that six people were on board. It had taken off shortly before the crash from a heliport near Marseille.