French experts go to Argentina to probe reality TV tragedy

French air investigators headed to Argentina on March 11 to probe a helicopter crash that killed 10, including three of France's best-known sports personalities, as the country's top sports institute prepared a ceremony in their honour.
      
Two French officials will join Argentine investigators who are already combing through the wreckage, looking for clues as to why the helicopters smashed into each other shortly after take-off in the rugged mountains of La Rioja province.
      
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 victims -- and five other sports stars including former France and Arsenal footballer Sylvain Wiltord -- were contestants in the reality TV series "Dropped" which involves placing sports personalities in inhospitable conditions.
      
It was the bloodiest accident in reality TV history.
      
Emergency workers removed the victims' remains from the wreckage near the small northwestern town of Villa Castelli on Tuesday and took them to the morgue in the provincial capital, about 300 kilometers (200 miles) from the crash site.
      
The bodies were burned beyond recognition, provincial security secretary Luis Cesar Angulo told AFP.
      
There were no survivors in the crash, which authorities said happened in good weather.
      
Video taken from the ground showed the two helicopters flying extremely close, their rotors clipping and both aircraft plummeting to earth.
      
Franck Firmin-Guion, head of Adventure Line Productions (ALP) that was making the show, said: "Suddenly, (one of the helicopters) swerved...