French probe into Argentina chopper crash

A team of French investigators has arrived in Argentina to probe a twin helicopter crash that killed 10 people during a reality TV shoot, including three of France's best-known sports stars.

The officials from France's air accident investigation authority, the BEA, held meetings at the French embassy on Wednesday after arriving in Buenos Aires.

They were then due to travel to the crash site in the northwestern province of La Rioja, where Argentine investigators continued combing through the charred wreckage.

Monday's crash killed Olympic champion swimmer Camille Muffat, yachtswoman Florence Arthaud and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, as well as five French TV crew members and two Argentine pilots.

The two BEA investigators were accompanied by a representative of Airbus Helicopters, the company that made the two Eurocopters involved in the crash, and another from engine manufacturer Turbomeca.

The French consul in Argentina, Raphael Trannoy, was already in La Rioja to meet with judicial officials leading the investigation and visit the morgue where the victims' badly burnt remains were being identified.

In Paris, several hundred people from the French sporting world paid an emotional tribute to the three late stars.

Pictures of the trio, covered with flowers, were laid out at the National Institute of Sport and Physical Education, France's leading sports institute, whose head said it was like a "death in the family".

The victims - and five other sports stars including former France and Arsenal footballer Sylvain Wiltord - were contestants in the reality TV series Dropped, which involved sports personalities testing their survival skills in inhospitable environments.