Dubai/Tomblaine: The Saudi Ministry of Energy stated that at least 14 people were killed when a helicopter carrying them crashed on Sunday, killing everyone aboard.
The accident occurred around 6 a.m. local time. All the people killed were Saudi nationals, the statement said.
There was no further information about the cause of the crash. The helicopter belonged to Aramco, the world's largest oil company, which is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia.
In a separate incident, 11 people were killed in a plane crash in France on Sunday, according to officials.
The plane, belonging to a skydiving school, suffered a malfunction and “fell almost vertically" after taking off from the Nancy-Essey airfield on the outskirts of the city of Nancy, the region's prefect, Yves Séguy, said.
“Had it occurred just a few dozen metres away, the accident could have caused collateral casualties," Séguy, prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle region, said.
The plane belonged to a skydiving club and was taking part in a parachute jump, he said.
The pilot and all the 10 passengers, which included five students and five instructors, died in the crash, the authorities stated.
(With inputs from PTI and AP via PTI)
