Jet carrying 148 crashes into the French Alps

A jetliner operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings crashed Tuesday in a remote area of the Alps in southern France – and all 148 people aboard the Barcelona-to-Duesseldorf flight were feared dead.
The Airbus A320 sent out a distress signal at 10:45 a.m. local time and then crashed in the mountainous region at an altitude of about 2,000 meters, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, the French Interior Ministry spokesman.
Brandet said debris from the crash has been located – and told BFM TV that he expected “an extremely long and extremely difficult” search-and-rescue operation.
French President Francois Hollande said the crash happened in a zone that is very difficult to access.
“The conditions of the accident, which have not yet been clarified, lead us to think there are no survivors,” Hollande said.
Hollande said there were likely to be many Germans on the flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.
“It’s a tragedy on our soil,” he said, adding that he spoke briefly with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to express solidarity.
The German ambassador was planning to leave soon with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve for the area of the accident.
Spanish King Felipe and his wife are in France on a previously scheduled visit and are meeting Hollande.
The French newspaper La Provence, citing aviation officials, said the plane carried 142 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants.
The plane crashed near the town of Barcelonnette about 65 miles north of the French Riviera city of Nice, said a spokesman for France’s DGAC aviation authority.
Accident investigators were heading for the crash site in Meolans-Revel, a sparsely inhabited community in the foothills of the French Alps.
Capt. Benoit Zeisser of the Digne-le-Bains police said there were some clouds but the cloud ceiling was not low and there did not appear to be turbulence.
Airbus said it was aware of the unfolding tragedy.
“We are aware of the media reports,” the company said on Twitter. “All efforts are now going towards assessing the situation. We will provide further information as soon as available.”
The crashed jet is 24 years old and has been with the parent Lufthansa group since 1991, according to online database airfleets.net.
Germanwings – a lower-cost unit of Lufthansa, Germany’s biggest airline – has been operating since 2002 and serves mainly European destinations.
Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr earlier said it would be a “dark day” for the airline if the crash were confirmed.
“We do not yet know what has happened to flight 4U 9525. My deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of our passengers and crew,” Lufthansa said on Twitter.
It was the first crash of an airliner on French soil since the Concorde disaster just outside Paris in July 2000.