A search and recovery operation is resuming in the southern French Alps after Tuesday’s crash of a Germanwings plane with 150 people on board.
[contextly_sidebar id=”yZdNWTjPZkd0bASrqWbfvQX04pth5O9Z”]Officials warn the operation could last for days in a remote mountain ravine between Digne and Barcelonnette.
The leaders of Germany, France and Spain are due to visit the crash site.
The Airbus A320 – flight 4U 9525 – from Barcelona to Duesseldorf crashed after an eight-minute rapid descent, officials say. There were no survivors.
Officials believe 67 of those aboard the plane were German citizens, including 16 pupils returning from an exchange trip.
The officials say 45 of the passengers had Spanish names.
The flight was also carrying citizens of Australia, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it was “sadly likely” that some British nationals were on board.
Germanwings, a low-cost airline owned by Germany’s main carrier Lufthansa, has an excellent safety record. French, Spanish and German leaders have expressed shock.
‘Picture of horror’
Using helicopters, a recovery team reached the site on Tuesday and later found the “black box” flight recorder – a key step in establishing what caused the crash.
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Source: BBC