French Sécurité Civile EC145 Helicopter Crashes Killing Three
A Eurocopter EC145 helicopter, operated by the French civil defence agency Sécurité Civile, went off the radar in the early morning of Monday and crashed in the flood-affected southern French department of Bouches-du-Rhône.
Ce soir, la famille de la Sécurité civile a perdu 3 des siens. Le DG et les personnels apportent tout leur soutien aux familles et aux collègues du pilote, du mécanicien et du sapeur-pompier décédés dans l’accident de leur hélicoptère.
Nous rendons hommage à leur #engagement. https://t.co/SFoselZMxZ pic.twitter.com/yIc9Q8zDT1— Sécurité Civile Fr (@SecCivileFrance) December 2, 2019
“In the evening of December 1, as the EC145 Civil Security helicopter was heading to Le Luc-et-le-Cannet (Var) for a search and rescue operation, the radio and radars went off. Despite significant search efforts [on land and in the air], the three crew of the helicopter were found dead at 0030 hrs (GMT) near the town of Rove (Bouches-du-Rhone),” according to a statement from statement the Interior Ministry.
The statement identified the deceased as pilot Jean Garat, engineer Michel Escalin, and firefighter Norbert Savornin.