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Reuters

An Airbus operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline crashed in a remote snowy area of the French Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 on board including 16 schoolchildren.
Germanwings confirmed its flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed with 144 passengers and six crew on board.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the black box would be looked at immediately and had been transferred to the Office of Investigations and Analysis.
Watch live coverage of the air crash from France 24 news  

The airline believed there were 67 Germans on the flight. Spain’s deputy prime minister said 45 passengers had Spanish names.
Among the victims were 16 children and two teachers from the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in the town of Haltern am See in northwest Germany, a spokeswoman said.
French police at the crash site said no one survived and it would take days to recover the bodies due to difficult terrain.
“It is going to take days to recover the victims, then the debris,” senior police officer Jean-Paul Bloy told reporters.
In Paris, Prime Minister Manuel Valls told parliament: “A helicopter managed to land [by the crash site] and has confirmed that unfortunately there were no survivors.”
It was the first crash of a large passenger jet on French soil since the Concorde disaster just outside Paris nearly 15 years ago. The A320 is a workhorse of worldwide aviation fleets. They are the world’s most used passenger jets and have a good though not unblemished safety record.

Germanwings said the plane started descending one minute after reaching its cruising height and continued losing altitude for eight minutes.
“The aircraft’s contact with French radar, French air traffic controllers ended at 10.53am at an altitude of about 6,000 feet. The plane then crashed,” Germanwings’ Managing Director Thomas Winkelmann told a news conference.
Winkelmann also said that routine maintenance of the aircraft was performed by Lufthansa on Monday.

France’s DGAC aviation authority said air traffic controllers initiated distress procedures after they lost contact with the Airbus, which did not issue a distress call.
The accident happened in an alpine region known for skiing, hiking and rafting, but which is hard for rescue services to reach.
The search and rescue effort based itself in a gymnasium in the village of Seyne-les-Alpes, which has a small private aerodrome nearby.
Transport Minister Alain Vidalies told local media: “This is a zone covered in snow, inaccessible to vehicles but which helicopters will be able to fly over.”
But as helicopters and emergency vehicles assembled, the weather was reported to be closing in.
“There will be a lot of cloud cover this afternoon, with local storms, snow above 1,800 metres and relatively low clouds. That will not help the helicopters in their work,” an official from the local weather centre told Reuters.
“Dark Day”
Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr, who planned to go to the crash site, spoke of a “dark day for Lufthansa”.
“My deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of our passengers and crew,” Lufthansa said on Twitter, citing Spohr.
French aviation authorities said the airliner crashed near the town of Barcelonnette about 100 kilometres north of the French Riviera city of Nice, not far from the Italian border.
French and German accident investigators were heading for the crash site in Meolans-Revel, a remote and sparsely inhabited commune.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would travel there on Wednesday.
Family members arrived at Barcelona’s El Prat airport, many crying and with arms around each others’ shoulders, accompanied by police and airport staff.
Airbus confirmed that the plane was 24 years old, having first been delivered to Germanwings parent Lufthansa in 1991.
It was powered by engines made by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric and France’s Safran.

Hong Kong Immigration Department said it so far had not received calls for assistance. 
It had contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ commissioner office in Hong Kong, China’s embassy in Spain and its consulate generals in Frankfurt and Marseille, as well as the airline.
Hongkongers in need of assistance can call the department’s hotline at +852 1868.
#Germanwings Tweets 



‘No survivors expected’ as German jet crashes in French Alps with 150 on board

Employees of German airline Germanwings mourn after a minute of silence for the victims of the Germanwings plane crash in front of the company's headquarters in Cologne, western Germany. Photo: AFP

Part of the vertical stabilizer of the Germanwings Airbus A320 at the crash site in the French Alps. Photo: AFP

Debris from the Germanwings Airbus A320 at the crash site in the French Alps. Photo: AFP

Search and rescue personnel making their way to the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320. Photo: AFP

Wreckage and debris lie on the mountain slopes after the crash of the Germanwings Airbus A320 over the French Alps. Photo: Thomas Koehler/photothek.net/Auswärtiges Amt/dpa

In this image made from TV, rescue workers search among the debris after a Germanwings Airbus 320 crashed in the French Alps. Photo: AP

A rescue helicopter from the French Securite Civile flies over the French Alps during a rescue operation near the crash site of an Airbus A320. Photo: Reuters

Helicopters of the French Air Force and civil security services arrive for rescue operations in Seyne, south-eastern France. Photo: AFP

Helicopters arrive to start rescue operations near the crash site. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Airport staff walk to a private area where people waiting for the Germanwings flight from Barcelona have been gathered at the airport in Dusseldorf. Photo: AP

The Germanwings Airbus A320 was carrying 142 passengers,  two pilots and four cabin crew, citing aviation officials. Photo: SCMP Pictures

An arrivals board shows flight 4U 9525 without a status at the airport in Dusseldorf. Photo: AP

The last few positions of Germanwings flight 4U9525.

Statement: President Hollande on TV saying he expects "no survivors" Photo: Skynews

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls (right) meets with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and others in his crisis cell in response to the crash of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525. Photo: Twitter

The Airbus A320 crashed in the area of Digne.

Aid and rescue vehicles prepare to search for Germanwings Flight 4U9525. Photo: Twitter

Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa Chief Executive, reacts as he makes a statement at the Frankfurt airport. Photo: Reuters

Unofficial website tracking data suggested the aircraft made a sharp descent from its cruising height of 35,000 feet. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Indonesia ends search for remains of AirAsia crash victims

A section of the tail of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 passenger plane is seen on the deck of the rescue ship Crest Onyx, a day after it was lifted from the seabed, as crew try to lift it off the ship in Kumai Port, near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan in this January 11, 2015 file photo. Photo: Reuters

Caskets containing the remains of passengers from AirAsia QZ8501 are carried into an Indonesian military cargo plane to be transported  back to Surabaya where the flight originated, at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan on January 3, 2015. Photo: Reuters

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World

German carrier says its Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps started descending one minute after reaching its cruising height, and continued losing altitude for eight minutes - and no distress was issued


An Airbus operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline crashed in a remote snowy area of the French Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 on board including 16 schoolchildren.
