PARIS — An Airbus plane with at least 144 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants on board has crashed in the Alps region.
The plane crashed between Digne et Barcelonnette. French president Francois Hollande says there are likely “no survivors” in the crash.
The passenger jet, operated by Germanwings, was traveling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, Hollande said.
"I want to express my solidarity to the family of the victims. We do not yet know the identities of the victims. It is a mourning we have to go through because it is a tragedy that has happened on our soil," Hollande said.
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. He told the French network iTele he could not comment yet on the state of the debris site.
In a live briefing Tuesday, Hollande said it was probable that a number of the victims were German. He said the area of the crash was remote and it was not clear whether anyone on the ground had been injured by the crash.
"It's a tragedy on our soil," he said, adding he would be speaking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Germanwings is a lower-cost unit of Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline. It has been operating since 2002 — part of traditional national carriers' response from rising European budget carriers. It serves mainly European destinations.
WSBTV
