A plane carrying at least 150 people crashed in southern France on Tuesday en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, the French civil aviation authority said.
The Airbus A320 plane was operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline, and sent out a distress signal over the French Alps at 10:45 a.m.
A French military helicopter located the wreckage of the plane near the French town of Barcelonnette, Reuters reported.
The conditions of the accident, which are not yet clear, suggest that there might not be any survivors,” French President François Hollande said in a brief Tuesday.
The plane was carrying at least 144 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants, according to French media. The passenger manifest is currently being verified. According to the French president, a number of the passengers may be German nationals. Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said on Tuesday 46 of the passengers are believed to be Spanish.
An interior ministry spokesman told BFM television that the crash site is at 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) altitude and extremely remote, indicating “an extremely long and extremely difficult” search and rescue operation ahead. Mayor of Barcelonnette Pierre Martin-Charpenel told HuffPost all emergency staff had been mobilized for the search, centering on the area of Méolans-Reve 15 kilometers (9 miles) outside the village.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the airline said they were still working to confirm what happened to the plane. “We do not yet know what has happened to flight 4U 9525,” Lufthansa said in a statement. “If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Lufthansa. We hope to find survivors.“
The A320 is Airbus’s best-selling jet family, with more than 6,000 planes in operation. In December, another A320, Indonesia AirAsia 8501, crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 passengers and crew.
