PARIS

France  has launched a manslaughter probe into the death of eight French nationals, including three sports stars, who were killed in a double helicopter crash while filming a reality TV show in northwestern Argentina.

Paris's prosecutor and France's Air Transport Gendarmerie (GTA) said on Tuesday they had opened an investigation for involuntary manslaughter while two specialists from the Office of Investigations and analyses – Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA) – are travelling to the site of the crash.

Ten people were killed when two helicopters collided in mid-air on Monday around 5p.m. (2000 GMT) while filming “Dropped,” a popular celebrity reality TV show broadcast on French channel TF1.

Champion sailor Florence Arthaud, 57, Olympic gold medalist swimmer Camille Muffat, 25, and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, 28, were among those killed.

The other five victims were French cameraman Brice Guilbert, director Laurent Sbasnik, sound engineer Edouard Gilles, journalist Lucia Mei-Dalby and producer Volodya Guinard.

 'Enormous sadness'

They all worked for the production company Adventure Line Productions.

The office of French President Francois Hollande confirmed the deaths of the French nationals in a statement.

It said that the services of the French Embassy in Argentina and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been "mobilized to provide the families of the victims with the information and assistance needed".

The statement read: "The sudden death of our compatriots is a cause of an enormous sadness."

“We feel great sorrow before this tragedy. France is grieving this morning,” France’s premier Manuel Valls tweeted.

France’s sports ministry said that Argentinian authorities had also launched a probe into the incident.