On the set of the program “Dropped”, on March 9, 2015, ten people, including three top French athletes, died following the collision of two helicopters in mid-flight.
Nobody could forget the tragedy which occurred on the set of “Dropped” (TF1) in Argentina on March 9, 2015. In full flight, two helicopters had collided. Ten people, including three great French sportsmen, sailor Florence Arthaud, boxer Alexis Vastine and swimmer Camille Muffat, as well as several people employed by the production company Adventure Line Productions (ALP) died . Six years after the facts, the production company was condemned on appeal “for inexcusable fault” to compensate the family of one of the victims, a cameraman, Laurent Sbasnik, according to a judgment Thursday, May 27, 2021 of the Court of Appeal of Versailles, reports 20 minutes.
ALP will have to pay the cameraman’s widow, mother and two young children 120,000 euros in damages. And will reimburse the Hauts-de-Seine primary health insurance fund up to 400,000 euros in pension increases. Aged 40, the victim was to film sequences “open doors, harnessed and in a dangerous flight configuration”, explained the Tribunal des affaires de sécurité sociale (TASS) of Hauts-de-Seine, the first to have judged the production in 2018. “The fact of scripting a totally hazardous aerial maneuver with eight passengers aboard two helicopters flying in formation was recognized as an inexcusable fault on the part of ALP, employer of the technicians. This maneuver was absolutely unnecessary and dangerous and the court l ‘acted judicially “, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Me Solenn Le Tutour, lawyer for the Sbasnik family, relayed by 20 minutes.
Read also : Crash in Argentina: What happened on the set of Dropped?
Security flaws?
On February 17, 2021, the company ALP was also indicted for “manslaughter”. A few years after the indictments of Peter Högberg, “responsible for security during filming”, and Nicolas Roussel, production director of the show. According to AFP, justice is now looking at a “characterized fault “ indicted, “for having underestimated the budget allocated to air resources and favored financial criteria in the choice of pilots and helicopters, to the detriment of the safety of persons”.
The show was intended to immerse high-level sportspeople in isolated areas where, thanks to challenges, they could have regained “civilization” in less than 72 hours.