First picture from rescue helicopter at site of French Alps crash
A plane carrying 150 people crashed in the French Alps.
The Airbus A320 operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline crashed in southern France earlier this morning.
The plane was travelling from Barcelona, Spain, to Duesseldorf, Germany and all people on board are believed to be dead.
This afternoon a helicopter landed near the crash scene and reported back that the largest piece of debris was the size of a car.
Rescue teams started making their way to the remote mountainous region where the plane crashed at an altitude of around 6,500ft in Meolans-Revels.
The plane was carrying 144 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew, citing aviation officials. The area where the plane went down is near a popular ski resort.
A spokesman for the French Civil Aviation authority says the plane that crashed in the French Alps with 150 people on board never sent out a distress signal.
Eric Heraud said the plane lost radio contact at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, but ‘never declared a distress alert itself.’
He said it was the combination of loss of radio contract with control and the plane’s descent which prompted the control service to declare a distress.
Heraud said six investigators from the Bureau of Accident Investigations, or BEA, were en route from Paris and would be at the crash site by evening. One investigator from the region was already present, he said.
Friends and relatives have started gathering to mourn the loss of 16 pupils and two teachers from this school in Germany. They were among the 150 dead on the plane.
This picture shows just how big the debris field and gives you a scale of the difficulties the rescuers are facing.
Large pieces of debris have been spotted on the mountainside from rescue helicopters.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says a helicopter has managed to land near where a passenger plane carrying 150 people crashed in the Alps, but found no survivors.
The weather in the area deteriorated Tuesday afternoon, with a chilly rain falling.
Gilbert Sauvan, of the local council, told Les Echos newspaper, ‘The plane is disintegrated.’
‘The largest debris is the size of a car,’ he added.
Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann said the plane began descending again shortly after it reached its cruising height following takeoff from Barcelona Airport. The descent lasted eight minutes, he told reporters in Cologne. Radar and air traffic control contact broke off at 10:53am.
He said the pilot had more than 10 years’ experience working for Germanwings and its parent airline Lufthansa. Airbus said the A320 was delivered to Lufthansa in 1991.
Germanwings said the passenger manifest included two babies. Officials believe there were 67 German nationals on board.
Officials at two airports are rushing to provide help and information to relatives and friends of the passengers aboard the crashed Germanwings flight 9525.
In Barcelona, from where the plane took off Tuesday morning, police escorted people, some of them crying, through a terminal and took them to a secure part of the airport. They did not speak to the media, and one woman held a jacket over the head of a sobbing woman.
In Duesseldorf, the destination airport, family members arriving at the airport were taken from the main terminal to a nearby building. Airport employees partly covered the building with sheets to keep the relatives out of the eye of the public.
The crash site was at Meolans-Revels, near the popular ski resort of Pra Loup, according to Eric Ciotti, the head of the regional council in southeast France.
The site is 430 miles south-southeast of Paris. But with mountains all around and few clear trails into the area, access to the crash site was expected to take time.
The crew of the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday did not send a distress signal, civil aviation authorities told AFP.
‘The crew did not send a Mayday. It was air traffic control that decided to declare the plane was in distress because there was no contact with the crew of the plane,’ the source said.
In Madrid, Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy suspended his agenda to preside over an emergency government meeting about the crash, and also talked with Ms Merkel.
‘Like everyone, I lament this incredibly sad and dramatic accident,’ Mr Rajoy said.
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: ‘In these difficult hours, our thoughts are will all those who must fear that their relatives are among the passengers or crew.’
He added that his ministry had set up a crisis unit and is in close contact with French authorities.
The owner of a camping ground near the crash site, Pierre Polizzi, said he heard the aircraft making curious noises shortly before it crashed.
He said: ‘I heard a series of loud noises in the air. There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside, but I couldn’t see any fighter planes.
‘The noise I heard was long – like eight seconds – as if the plane was going more slowly than a military plane speed. There was another long noise after about 30 seconds.’
Mr Polizzi said the plane crashed roughly five-to-10 miles from the campsite.
He added: ‘It’s going to be very difficult to get there. The mountain is snowy and very hostile.’
Both Germanwings and Lufthansa have changed the colours of their logos to black as a mark of respect.
Relatives have been arriving at Dusseldorf Airport this afternoon to find out any information about the flight.
Chaplains are also on hand to offer people comfort.
This snip from Google Street View shows how inaccessible the area is.
A crew from a helicopter has said they have found the wreckage with bodies strewn across the floor.
France’s interior ministry says debris has been located
on the Alps at an altitude of around 6,500ft following passenger plane crash.
on the Alps at an altitude of around 6,500ft following passenger plane crash.
The plane took off shortly after 9am.
About 25 minutes into the flight, however, it started a rapid decent.
In just 10 minutes it fell 31,200ft.
A resident in Prads-Haute-Bléone has said that the area is only accessible by helicopters.
It would take several hours to walk there, they said.
President Hollande said: ‘An aeroplane of the Germanwings company has just crashed near to Digne.
‘I want to express all my solidarity with the families of the victims. A counselling unit will be established to provide psychological support.
‘I will discuss the incident with (Germany’s) Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish King Philip VI, who is visiting us today. As we wait, our first feeling should be one of solidarity.’
He added: ‘I will have meetings with Chancellor Merkel because there were a number of German victims, and I will also contact the King of Spain.
‘This is an air tragedy and we will try to understand the reasons and causes of the accident, and obviously we will give the concerned authorities as well as the victims support.
‘This is a mourning period, because this is a tragedy that has happened on our territory. I intend to find out if there were other consequences of the accident … and we will find out more in the hours to come.’
In a statement on Twitter, Airbus said: ‘We are aware of the media reports. All efforts are now going towards assessing the situation. We will provide further information as soon as available.’
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: ‘My heart goes out to the family and friends of those people who appear to have lost their lives in this devastating air crash in the Alps.’
Germanwings said: ‘We have recently become aware of media reports speculating on an incident, though we still do not have any own confirmed information.
‘As soon as definite information is available, we shall inform the media immediately.’
The plane came down in a remote region in the Alps at around 9.30am GMT.
Flight radars show the plane started to lose altitude shortly after passing between Marseille and Toulon.
