Sad news reaches the Great Beyond regarding the airship that explorer Jean-Louis Etienne was hoping to fly to the North Pole, researching ice thickness as he went (see previous post).

It appears storms uprooted the airship’s moorings at the Fayence aérodrome in France. After being carried away by the wind it crashed into a house. Although no one was hurt, the airship is “dead”, a spokeswoman tells us.

There is a brief press statement on Etienne’s website.

We’ll try to bring you more tomorrow.

UPDATE

The story is now on AFP, Reuters, and Bloomberg.

“The airship is destroyed, it can’t be repaired. I feel like crying,” Etienne told reporters (AFP). However Reuters says another expedition may be put together to measure the ice thickness.

Image: artist’s impression of airship