Germanwings aircraft from Barcelona to Düsseldorf crashes in French Alps with 150 on board

Barcelona (ACN).- A Germanwings Airbus A320 airliner covering the route between Barcelona El Prat and Düsseldorf has crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday around 11am (CET), according to initial information from the radio station Europe 1. According to the French President, François Hollande, it is very likely that "there will not be any survivors". The GWI9525 flight, run by Lufthansa's low-cost company, was carrying 144 passengers and 6 crew members (2 pilots and 4 cabin staff), confirmed the airline. The Spanish Government announced there were "45 people with Spanish surnames" on board, and 42 passengers were of Spanish nationality, announced Germanwings. The Vice President of the Catalan Government, Joana Ortega, is heading to the area. The Catalan President, Artur Mas, expressed his sorrow and cancelled his activities for the rest of the day.

The Germanwings flight's departure was scheduled at 9.35am but it left the airport at 10.01. It was supposed to fly at 9,000 metres but the specialised website Flightradar24 lost track of it at 10.39; the aircraft was at that point flying at 2,000 metres, in an area with mountain peaks of more than 3,000 metres. The flight sent an SOS signal at 10.47 and crashed a few minutes after this near Digne-les-bains and Barcelonette (in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region). The exact causes of the crash are still unknown.