The crash occurred at 8.30 on Friday morning between the towns of Cabasse and Carces in the Var department of southern France, 50 kilometres from Saint Tropez.

The local police prefecture of Var confirmed earlier that there were “several fatalities” and that it had set up an emergency crisis centre at the scene.
02 février 2018 : accident de 2 hélicoptères militaires dans le #Var. Point de 10h15 dans le communiqué ci-dessous ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/8c7c1JN9Fh
— Préfet du Var (@Prefet83) February 2, 2018
Some 20 troops joined two rescue helicopters and a police chopper at the crash scene, along with local officials.
Two police helicopters were still searching the crash scene shortly after midday, while rescue services had blocked access to a forest road near the lake, according to an AFP journalist.