150 dead in mystery plane crash in French Alps, black box found

Seyne France A plane operated by the budget carrier of Germanys Lufthansa crashed in a remote area of the French Alps on Tuesday killing all 150 on board in Frances worst aviation disaster in decadesWith the cause of the accident a complete mystery authorities recovered a black box from the Airbus A320 at the crash site where rescue efforts were being hampered by the mountainous terrain Local MP Christophe Castaner who flew over the crash site said on Twitter Horrendous images in this mountain sceneryNothing is left but debris and bodies Flying over the crash site with the interior minister a horror the plane is totally destroyed Video images from a government helicopter flying near the area showed a desolate snowflecked moonscape with steep ravines covered in screeThis photo taken on September 2 2014 at Milan Malpensa airport shows the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in France on March 24 2015 The plane which had taken off from Barcelona in Spain and was headed for Dusseldorf in Germany crashed on March 24 2015 in the French Alps near the southeastern town of Seyne with 150 people onboard Pic AFPBudget airline Germanwings said the Airbus plunged for eight minutes but French aviation officials said the plane had made no distress call before crashing near the ski resort of BarcelonnetteA black box was found and will be delivered to investigators Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Weather did not appear to be a factor in the crash with conditions calm at the time There was no cloud at the planes cruising altitude winds were light to moderate and there was no turbulence that could have contributed to the crash French weather officials saidPrime Minister Manuel Valls said there were no survivors adding that the authorities cant rule out any theory on the cause of the disaster The plane carrying 144 mainly Spanish and German passengers including two babies and six crew was travelling from Barcelona to the western German city ofDuesseldorf when it came downGerman authorities said 16 German teenagers on a school trip were on board the doomed plane as tearful relatives rushed to the airports in the two cities anxiously seeking information about their loved onesFrench President Francois Hollande said he would meet his German and Spanish counterparts at the crash site on WednesdayIt was the first fatal accident in the history of Germanwings and the deadliest on the French mainland since 1974 when a Turkish plane crashed killing 346 people It is a tragedy a new airline tragedy We will determine what caused the crash Hollande said The dead included Germans Spaniards and probably Turks Hollande said while Belgium said at least one of its nationals was on boardGermanwings said 67 Germans were believed to have been on board while Spain said 45 people with Spanish sounding names were on the flight A crisis cell has been set up in the area between Barcelonnette and DignelesBains along with an emergency flight control centre to coordinate the chopper flights to the crash siteAuthorities commandeered a large meadow with dozens of helicopters taking off to head to the crash site Valls said one helicopter had been able to touch down at the site of the accident but locals described the difficult terrain that awaited rescue teamsGround access is horrible I know the Estrop massif its a very high mountainous area very steep and its terrible to get there except from the air during winter local resident Francoise Pie saidA witness who was skiing near the crash site told French television he heard an enormous noise around the time of the disaster The plane belonged to Germanwings a lowcost affiliate of German flag carrier Lufthansa based in CologneWeve never had a total loss of aircraft in the companys history until now a company spokeswoman told AFP Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr described it as a dark dayA spokesman for Airbus the European aerospace giant did not give any information about possible causes but said the company had opened a crisis cell and was sending experts to the sceneFrench civil aviation authorities said they lost contact with the plane and declared it was in distress at 1030am 0930 GMT However the aircrafts crew did not send a distress signal civil aviation authorities told AFPThe crew did not send a Mayday It was air traffic control that decided to declare the plane was in distress because there was no contact with the crew of the plane the source said