Horrific footage has emerged online of the double helicopter crash in Argentina that claimed the lives of ten people on Monday, including three of France's top athletes. Shot from the ground on a camera phone, the video captures the two aircraft flying beside each other before inexplicably colliding midair and hurtling toward the ground.
The camera pans away moments after the impact, as bystanders begin to walk towards the black smoke rising from the wreckage. There were no survivors in the crash, which left the two Argentinian pilots and eight French passengers dead.
"I ran to see if I could help anyone but all I could see was fire, it was all fire, fire,” bystander David Ocampo told local media, according to The Guardian.
France has been in a state of mourning since the incident occurred on Monday, and President Francois Hollande has said the loss of lives is a "cause of immense sadness" for the nation. The French athletes and crew were in Argentina filming a popular reality survival TV series called "Dropped," which leaves contestants in remote locations with the goal of making it to safety.
Investigators in Argentina are looking into the cause of the disaster, which happened during reportedly good flying conditions. One of the pilots, Juan Carlos Castillo, was a veteran of the Argentine air force with extensive flying experience.