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Ex-Arsenal striker Sylvain Wiltord has tweeted he has "no words" after two helicopters crashed killing 10 people, including three French sports stars, on a reality TV show he was a contestant on.

The choppers carrying cast and crew filming Dropped, a popular European reality show crashed in a remote part of Argentina, killing everyone on board, including two Olympic medal winners and a sailing champion.

Wiltord, one of the other contestants, who was not in either helicopter, tweeted: "I'm sad for my friends, I'm trembling, I'm horrified, I have no words, I don't want to say anything."

The helicopters apparently collided in mid-air yesterday near Villa Castelli in La Rioja province, about 730 miles (1,170 kilometres) north west of Buenos Aires, La Rioja secretary of security Cesar Angulo said.

All 10 people on board - eight French nationals and two Argentine pilots - were killed.

"An explosion occurred and it's believed that they collided," said Mr Angulo, referring to the helicopters.

(Image: Instagram)

Photographs showed the burning and smoking wreckage of the helicopters on the ground in dry scrubland with people gathered nearby.

French media said filming had been suspended and the crew and other contestants, including Wiltord, were heading back to France.

Among the dead were French Olympic gold medal swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine and sailor Florence Arthaud, according to a statement from La Rioja's government.

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French president Francois Hollande said in a statement published on the website of the French daily Liberation: "The brutal demise of our compatriots is an immense sadness."

Muffat, 25, won gold in the 400-metre freestyle, silver in the 200-metre freestyle and a bronze in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Vastine, 28, won a bronze medal in the light welterweight division at the 2008 games in Beijing.

Ms Arthaud is considered one of the best sailors in the world.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images) (Image: PA)

The statement identified the remaining victims as Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles, as well as Argentine pilots Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate.

The athletes were part of a team filming the reality show Dropped, a survivalist programme with several versions across Europe, said the mayor of Villa Castelli, Andres Navarrete.

The other stars participating in the show were swimmer Alain Bernard, cyclist Jeannie Longo, Wiltord, snowboarder Anne-Flore Marxer and figure skater Philippe Candeloro.

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None of them were among the victims.

"The whole of French sport is in mourning because we have lost three huge champions," Sports Minister Thierry Braillard told RTL radio.

"Florence Arthaud - we all knew her as the 'Fiancee of the Atlantic'," he added, using Arthaud's nickname.

The crew had arrived on Sunday in Villa Castelli, where it had previously filmed a version of the show for Switzerland and Denmark.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

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British swimmer Fran Halsall paid tribute to 25-year-old Muffat, posting on Twitter: "Shocked and saddened to hear about the death of Camille Muffat, taken far too young such a lovely person and inspirational athlete."

Ex-Olympic swimmer Andy Jameson, 50, who won bronze in the 100m butterfly at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, tweeted that the news is “shockingly sad”.

Argentine authorities were at the scene of the crash late yesterday trying to determine its cause.

Mr Angulo said one of the helicopters belonged to La Rioja province and the other belonged to the neighbouring province of Santiago del Estero.

"The helicopter from La Rioja was a Eurocopter with a capacity to hold six people. It appears to have brushed against the other helicopter from Santiago del Estero shortly after take-off," the statement from the provincial government said.

A rugged, sparsely populated area is on the edge of the Andes mountain range that separates Argentina and Chile.

The crash happened around 5.15pm local time, according to reports. Parts of the wreckage were reportedly still on fire hours after the crash.

It was the second time in two years that a reality show produced by ALP for TF1 was hit by tragedy.

In April 2013 the doctor charged with looking after the contestants in the long-running Koh-Lanta endurance show committed suicide after one of the competitors died following one of the tests, complaining of heart pains.