A helicopter collision in Argentina has killed eight French nationals including celebrity yachtswoman Florence Arthaud, Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine. 

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Two helicopters crashed while filming a French reality TV show in the western province of La Rioja near the Andes mountains but the cause is currently unknown.

French President Francois Hollande’s office in Paris said in a statement: “The sudden death of our fellow French nationals is a cause of immense sadness.”

Several members of the ALP TV production company involved in filming the adventure show ‘Dropped’ for private TV station TF1 were among those who perished. 

The TV programme involves contestants being left in the wilderness and having to use their skills to find their way back to civilisation.

Arthaud, 57, was one of the first women to carve a place for herself in the world of sailing and in 1990 secured the record for the quickest solitary crossing of the North Atlantic.

Muffat, 25, won 400 metres freestyle gold at the 2012 London Olympics, while Vastine, 28, won bronze at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

“I am sad for my friends, I’m shaking, I’m horrified, I can’t find the words,” tweeted Sylvain Wiltord, ex-footballer for English Premier League club Arsenal and a fellow participant in ‘Dropped’.

Reports earlier read that the helicopters’ two pilots and La Rioja’s security chief Cesar Angulo were also victims of the crash.

“There were no survivors, according to the information we have,” Angulo said.

Telam, Argentina’s official news agency, said one of the helicopters belonged to the provincial government and the other to organisers of a survival competition that had been held for three years near the village of Villa Castelli.