French sports stars, including gold medal winner, among dead in helicopter crash

VILLA CASTELLI, Argentina, March 10 (UPI) -- The French presidential office has confirmed that three French athletes were among the 10 dead after the collision of two helicopters in Argentina on Monday.

Florence Arthaud, 57, was a famous sailor who broke the record for crossing the North Atlantic alone in 1990. Camille Muffat, 25, was a competitive swimmer. She won three medals, including gold, in the 2012 London Olympics. Alexis Vastine, 28, was an Olympic boxer. He won bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The other French victims include members of the television production team of the reality TV show "Dropped" for French broadcaster TF1.

"The sudden death of our fellow French nationals is a cause of immense sadness," French President Francois Hollande said in a statement.

Ten people died Monday after two helicopters collided during the filming in Villa Castelli, Argentina.

Those who died -- eight French nationals and two Argentine nationals -- were part of a Discovery Channel team taking part in an endurance and survival competition.

There were no survivors.

"We learn with immense sadness of the accident that occurred during the filming of the show 'Dropped,'" TF1 said in a statement. "All TF1 teams come together in this terrible time with the pain of the families and relatives of the victims."

One of the helicopters belonged to the La Rioja provincial government while the other aircraft was from Santiago del Estero province.

Luis César Angulo, security secretary for La Rioja, said the filming was taking place in the Quebrada del Yeso and El Condado regions of the province.

"Take-off was at 5:10 p.m. and an explosion occurred a few minutes later. Apparently the two craft collided and the result was 10 fatalities," he said.

A video of the collision has appeared online:

Danielle Haynes contributed to this report.