2023-08-15 21:33:00
Three people, including journalist Gérard Leclerc, were on board the small passenger plane which crashed near Nantes on Tuesday.
By NJ with AFP A tourist plane crashed in Loire-Atlantique, killing three people. (Illustrative image) © XOSE BOUZAS / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP Published on 08/15/2023 at 9:31 p.m.
A “fatal accident” involving a small passenger plane occurred Tuesday in Lavau-sur-Loire, in Loire-Atlantique, announced Tuesday on X (ex-Twitter) the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) for the Civil Aviation Safety.
Three people, including journalist Gérard Leclerc (CNews, ex-France 2), were on board the aircraft which disappeared at the start of the afternoon between Nantes and La Baule, according to a press release from the Loire prefecture- Atlantic. Two bodies have been located, we learned from sources close to the case.
Debris found on the Loire
The prefecture had launched an air-land rescue plan (SATER) in the afternoon when the aircraft, piloted by the journalist, had disappeared from radar screens. But according to sources familiar with the matter, the underwater search had to be suspended for the night due to poor conditions and the two bodies located in the wreckage could not be released.
According to France Blue Loire Ocean, debris was discovered at the level of a lock, a wheel and a piece of registration. The rest of the plane is in the water, 3 or 4 meters deep, in a marsh area with strong currents.
The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) for Civil Aviation Safety announced on X (ex-Twitter) that this “fatal accident” involved a RobinAircraft DR400 aircraft registered F-GMXY. “A BEA investigator and a first information investigator on site today, joined by two BEA investigators tomorrow”, writes the organization, announcing “the opening of a security investigation”.
According to local media, the plane took off from Loudun aerodrome, in Vienne.
Tributes to Gérard Leclerc
The Canal + group immediately confirmed on X the death of the journalist in the accident and paid tribute to him. “It is with infinite sadness that we have learned of the death of Gérard Leclerc, emblematic editorialist of C News”, wrote Gérald-Brice Viret, director general of Canal + in charge of the antennas and programs of the group, to which the channel CNews belongs. . “I wish to pay tribute to a man of immense kindness, committed, passionate, remarkable”.
It is with infinite sadness that we learned of the death of Gérard Leclerc, emblematic editorial writer of @CNEWS.
I wish to pay tribute to a man of immense kindness, committed, passionate, remarkable.
I am thinking today of his family, his loved ones… pic.twitter.com/WoQeK2pjvE
— Gérald-Brice Viret (@gbviret) August 15, 2023
Cnews journalist Laurence Ferrari hailed the memory of a “very great journalist, a free spirit and an extraordinary teammate. We are all overwhelmed in the editorial staff of C News, we who have had the chance to work alongside him. Immense thoughts to his children, to Julie and to all his family.
Gérard was a very great journalist, a free spirit and an extraordinary teammate. We are all upset within the drafting of @CNEWS, we who had the chance to work alongside him. Huge thoughts to his children, Julie and all his family ����
— Laurence Ferrari (@LaurenceFerrari) August 15, 2023
A television figure, half-brother of singer Julien Clerc, Gérard Leclerc began his career as a radio journalist, on Europe 1 (1978-85) then RMC (1985) before spending three decades in public service, including nearly twenty years on the second channel. He had then become one of the famous faces of Antenne 2, then France 2, in turn head of the economic and social service, columnist, special correspondent, editor-in-chief of the program Telematin and the political service, deputy editor…
Gérard Leclerc then became editor-in-chief of the political, economic and social service at France 3 (2007-09) before being appointed president of La Chaîne Parlementaire-National Assembly (LCP-AN) (2009-15). Since 2017, he has been a columnist on C News.
The journalist was married to Julie Leclerc (Chantal Séloron in the city), historic voice of Europe 1 for almost 50 years, with whom he had three children.
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