BAMAKO, MALI — A helicopter collision in Mali has taken the lives of 13 French soldiers in France's worst military loss in four decades.<br /><br />On Monday evening, a French Tiger attack helicopter was reinforcing troops on the ground chasing after militants in Mali when the helicopter collided with a Cougar military transport helicopter around 7:40 p.m. local time.<br /><br />The incident occurred near the Mali's border at Burkina Faso and Niger.<br /><br />The two aircraft crashed near each other, killing all 13 French soldiers on board, including an officer and six commandos, according to the BBC. <br /><br />An investigation has been launched to discover the cause of the collision, the heaviest single French military loss since a 1983 attack in Beirut killed 58 paratroopers.<br /><br />In a tweet, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed "deep sadness" and called the soldiers "heroes."<br /><br />French lawmakers observed a minute of silence for the fallen soldiers on Tuesday.
