Reality TV Air Crash: Pilots 'Highly Trained'

Officials investigating a helicopter crash that killed 10 people, including three French sports stars, say both pilots were experienced and desert winds may have caused the tragedy.

Footage shows the two aircraft colliding and then plunging to the ground during filming for reality TV show Dropped in a remote area of La Rioja province in northern Argentina.

The Eurocopters were flying in tandem over scrubland when one appeared to swerve and hit the blades of the other aircraft.

Investigators said the pilots were flying directly into the sun as it set over the Andes mountain range that separates Argentina and Chile, and are looking at whether bright sunlight was a factor.

Daniel Gorkich, aviation director of La Rioja province, said the aircraft were in good condition and both pilots, Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate, were "highly trained".

Thermal updrafts are common in the hot, cactus-filled landscape and may have caused the crash, experts said.

The helicopters came down 50ft apart and burst into flames, with one so charred that only the blades were recognisable.

Olympic swimming star Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, and champion sailor Florence Arthaud were killed.

The other seven victims were the two pilots and five French production crew - Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles.

They were filming a French show called Dropped which involves sports stars being put into inhospitable environments and trying to survive by foraging for food.

Investigators have taken their bodies to a morgue and are picking through the wreckage for clues to the tragedy.

Mr Castillo's wife Cristina Alvarez told reporters her husband was a veteran of the 1982 Falklands War and had extensive experience flying helicopters, including in challenging places like Antarctica.

A team of French experts are due to arrive at the crash site on Wednesday to help Argentine officials investigate the accident.

French prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation, which is standard procedure in France when a national dies abroad.

Dropped director Louis Bodin told Argentine TV station Todo Noticias the crew are in shock and the show is being suspended because they "don't have the heart" to continue.

Ms Muffat's agent Sophie Kamoun said the 25-year-old swimmer, who won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 2012 London Olympics, said she had loved appearing in the show.

"She had dedicated a lot of her life to swimming to become Olympic champion, and her objective since her retirement was to make a success of her (personal) life," she said.

"She had a lot of projects that made her happy, and this show was one of them. I spoke to her on the phone two days ago and she told me she'd spent a fabulous week, one of the best of her life."

Tributes have poured in from French athletes and officials, including French Prime Minister Manuel Valls who said: "The whole of France is in mourning."

The International Olympic Committee announced it would fly its flag at half-mast for three days.