An Airbus operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline crashed in a remote snowy area of the French Alps on Tuesday and all 150 on board were feared dead. French President Francois Hollande said he believed none of those on board the A320 had survived, while the head of Lufthansa spoke of a dark day for the German airline. Germanwings confirmed its flight 4U9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf crashed in the French Alps with 144 passengers and six crew members on board. Hollande said:
“The conditions of the accident, which have not yet been clarified, lead us to think there are no survivors.”
Officials said the plane issued a distress call at 0947 GMT (0547 ET), about 52 minutes after take-off. The accident happened in a snow-clad alpine area that is hard for rescue services to reach. Hollande said there were likely to be significant numbers of Germans on the flight. Spain’s deputy prime minister said 45 passengers had Spanish names.
It was the first crash of a large passenger jet on French soil since the Concorde disaster just outside Paris in July 2000. 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.