No survivors likely in Alps crash; black box found

Around 150 people are feared dead after a passenger jet went down in southern France. Lufthansa, which owns the Germanwings plane, called it a "dark day" for the airline. VPC

A March 24 photo provided by the French gendarmerie shows the crash site in the French Alps.(Photo: -, AFP/Getty Images)

A German commercial jet with 150 people aboard went into a sudden, steep and horrifying eight-minute descent Tuesday before slamming into the rugged terrain of the French Alps, authorities said.

French President Francois Hollande said there aren't likely to be any survivors.

"It's a tragedy on our soil," he said. "I want to express all my solidarity to the families of the victims of this air accident. This is a bereavement, a tragedy."

One of the plane's two black boxes had been found, French authorities said. Ten helicopters and hundreds of search and rescue personnel were dispatched to the area, authorities said. The first responders were let down from helicopter cables into the crash zone.

"We saw an aircraft that had literally been ripped apart, the bodies are in a state of destruction, there is not one intact piece of wing or fuselage," Bruce Robin, prosecutor for the city of Marseille, told Reuters news service after flying over the area.

Germanwings Flight 9525 departed Barcelona, Spain, for a two-hour flight to Duesseldorf at 10:01 a.m. local time — more than 20 minutes late. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Airbus A320 at 10:53 a.m., airline CEO Thomas Winkelmann said.

Air traffic controllers issued a distress signal after losing contact with the plane and recognizing the steep descent. The pilots never issued such a signal.

Winkelmann said 144 passengers — including two babies — and six crewmembers were aboard. Sixteen students and two teachers returning from an exchange program in Spain also were on board, Germany's DPA news agency reported.

Winkelmann said a sudden descent lasted about eight minutes and that air-traffic controllers lost contact with the jet at about 6,000 feet. He added that the pilot had more than 10 years' experience, that the plane was inspected last summer and that safety experts from France, Germany and Spain were en route to the crash site.

Germanwings is a relatively low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa.

"All employees of Germanwings and Lufthansa are deeply saddened," Winkelmann said. "Their thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the passengers and crew."

The White House issued a statement saying President Obama had been briefed on the crash by Lisa Monaco, his assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism. No link to terrorism had been found at this time, the statement said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and loved ones," the statement said. The U.S. State Department issued similar condolences, adding that the U.S. "stands ready to offer assistance and support" to the nations investigating the crash.

Hollande said the plane was carrying nationals from Spain, Germany and Turkey. He said that he wasn't aware of any French citizens aboard the plane. A manifest had not been released.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said many passengers were from Germany. She said her thoughts were with the families and loved ones of the victims and said she would go to the region Wednesday.

Flight tracking systems indicated the plane's altitude was 38,000 feet at 10:30 a.m. when it began declining at a rate of more than 3,000 feet per minute. Eight minutes later it was down to 11,400 feet. At that point the Flightaware tracking system could provide no further statistics.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the crash occurred near Digne-les-Bains, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region — about 65 miles north of Nice. Debris from the crash has been located at an elevation of about 6,000 feet.

Capt. Benoit Zeisser of the Digne-le-Bains police told the French network iTele there were some clouds but the cloud ceiling was not low. Police tweeted a warning to people not to get close to the scene of the crash.

Valls said he had sent Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to the scene of the crash, the first of a commercial jet on French soil since a Concorde jet crash outside Paris in July 2000 killed 113 people.

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The campground owner near the crash site, Pierre Polizzi, told the Associated Press he heard strange noises from the plane moments before the crash.

"I heard a series of loud noises in the air. There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside, but I couldn't see any fighter planes," Polizzi said. "The noise I heard was long — like 8 seconds — as if the plane was going more slowly than a military plane speed. There was another long noise after about 30 seconds."

Polizzi said the plane crashed about four miles from his campground.

"It's going to be very difficult to get there. The mountain is snowy and very hostile," he said.

Lufthansa spokeswoman Kim Jucknat said the airline has launched an investigation.

"My deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of our passengers and crew," Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr said in a statement. "If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Lufthansa."

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Airbus said it was sendin a "go-team of technical advisers" to aid in the investigation.

"All efforts are now going towards assessing the situation," the company said. "Our thoughts are with those affected by this tragic event."

Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara

Rescue helicopters park in Seyne les Alpes, French Alps, on Tuesday after a passenger jet carrying 150 people crashed as it flew from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, (Photo: AP)

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