French billionaire politician Olivier Dassault dies in helicopter crash

The French billionaire and politician Olivier Dassault has died in a helicopter crash in Normandy. The 69-year-old rightwing MP was the grandson of Marcel Dassault, who founded the aircraft manufacturing company Dassault Aviation. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, paid tribute to Dassault, tweeting that he “loved France”. The helicopter transporting Dassault crashed shortly after taking off from the Normandy coastal resort of Deauville, where the tycoon had a holiday home, at about 6pm on Sunday. The cause of the crash, in which the pilot was also killed, was not immediately known. The French air accident investigation bureau (BEA) reported that the aircraft, an Aérospatiale AS350 Écureuil, had crashed “on take off” from a private ground. The BEA has opened an inquiry and said it was dispatching five investigators to the scene.<br/>