The bodies of three French sports stars killed in a helicopter crash in Argentina while taking part in a reality TV show have arrived back in Paris . Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat , sailor Florence Arthaud and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine died after the horrific accident on the evening of March 9 . Relatives and officials gathered at the Charles de Gaulle Airport to pay their respects at a small ceremony earlier this morning . Scroll down for video . The bodies of three French sports stars killed in a helicopter crash in Argentina have arrived back in Paris . Five other French nationals - Laurent Sbasnik , Lucie Mei-Dalby , Volodia Guinard , Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles - were also killed in the incident . They were taking part in a survival series called Dropped for French TV when the crash happened in a mountain range in the La Rioja province in north-west Argentina . Ten people died and there were no survivors . Their coffins , which each had a personalised silver plaque , were removed from the plane around 11am and will be buried at a different service . They were watched by French Sports Minister Patrick Kanner , the Argentine ambassador and Nonce Paolini , who heads the TF1 channel that was producing the television programme . The show , which was immediately cancelled after the crash , had planned to blindfold sports stars and take them into rugged environments , giving them 72 hours to get to a place where they could charge a mobile phone . After the crash a cattle farmer told how he rushed to one of the helicopters to try to rescue survivors - but he was beaten back by the heat and smoke . Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat , sailor Florence Arthaud and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine died in the accident on the evening of March 9 . They were repatriated alongside five other French nationals who were crew members . Officials arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport ( left ) to pay their respects . The coffins , which each had a personalised silver plaque , were removed from the plane ( right ) and will be buried at a different service . The coffins were loaded carefully into vans in La Rioja , where the accident took place , on March 17 . A coffin plaque engraved with Camille-Marie Manuella Muffat lays on a bench alongside more plaques engraved with the names of other helicopter crash victims . David Ocampo said : 'One of the helicopters sounded as if it was firing off shots or experiencing small explosions that were completely out of place . 'There were about five metres between the two of them , but the one in front seemed to stop and that caught my attention . 'The other one smashed into it from behind with its propellor after trying to swerve to avoid it and fell to the ground and exploded . The earth shook when they fell . ' I rushed towards it to see if there were any survivors but it was just a ball of flame . The terrifying moment the two helicopters smashed into each other before spiralling to the ground was caught on camera . There were no survivors in the crash , which claimed ten lives . Above , one of the helicopters is left in pieces on the dirt floor after the crash . The sports stars were taking part in a survival series called Dropped for French TV when the crash happened . ' I could n't see anything really , just smoke and the tail of one of the two helicopters between the bushes . ' Prosecutors in Paris opened a manslaughter inquiry after the incident . Initial investigations indicated the crash was caused by human error , officials said . The remaining victims were identified as Argentine pilots Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate . French President Francois Hollande said at the time : 'The brutal demise of our compatriots is an immense sadness . ' Camille Muffat is an Olympic swimmer and former world record holder for the 400m women 's freestyle from 2012 until 2013 . She won gold during the 400m freestyle at London 2012 , earned silver in the women 's 200m freestyle and a bronze as a member of the women 's 4×200m freestyle relay . She was the third Frenchwoman in history to earn three medals in a summer or winter Olympic Games and was named the 2012 French Sportswoman of the Year . She shocked the sporting world in June by announcing her sudden retirement at the age of 24 , exhausted by the long hours of training in the pool . Alexis Vastine won bronze for boxing in the Light Welterweight category at the Beijing Olympics , and competed at London 2012 , but was knocked out in the quarter finals . Florence Arthaud was regarded as one of the world 's best sailors , and won the Route du Rhum , a transatlantic single-handed yacht race that takes place every four years . She took first place in 1990 with her boat Pierre 1er .
Two helicopters collided during filming for new show on March 9 . All ten people died in the crash including eight French nationals . Sports stars Florence Arthaud , Alexis Vastine and Camille Muffat died . Five crew members and two Argentine pilots were also killed . Paris prosecutors have opened manslaughter inquiry into the crash .