Germanwings A320 passenger plane crashes in Southern France

Tragedy strikes European air travel as German wings A320 passenger plane crashes near the small mountain village of Barcelonnette in the Southern Alps, France. Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget flight #4U9525, en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, made a distress call at 10:47 am soon before disappeared off the radar (at around 11:20), as it started to lose altitude shortly after passing between Marseille and Toulon, reports Le Figaro.

With a sum total of 148 on board including crew members, the plane was flying at a confirmed altitude of 6,800 feet, according to Flight Radar, before it made that mysterious distress call. After touching down on the ground, a local hypothesis asserts, the plane overran and crashed down the hill at its far end in the Digne area of South Eastern France.

It immediately caught fire, spreading wreckage across the surrounding countryside, which leads President Hollande of France to believe that there are no survivors as a result of the crash. Airbus states its awareness of the crash but lacks a confirmatory report at present. However, the final conversations between Air traffic control (ATC) and the pilot prior to the crash reveal signs of distress which asserts the possibility in question.

Local villagers were among the first on the scene to lend assistance, while a search-and-rescue operation has already been launched as we speak. Authorities have dispatched fire services staff, gendarmes, as well as experts for the process.

Initial reports hint that access to the crash site is constrained, owing to excessive snowfall ranging around 2000 meters of snow. A remote local village is being used for all services to the site. With 148 fatalities and a huge hull loss, this is the biggest aviation disaster as of this month.