Germanwings crash: Search operations resume

ParisBerlin The search operations for an Airbus A320 of a German budget airline with 150 people on board which crashed on Tuesday in southern France while flying from Spains Barcelona to Germanys Dusseldorf resumed on WednesdayA plane operated by Germanwings the budget carrier of Germanys Lufthansa airlines crashed in AlpesdeHauteProvence in the southern French Alps on Tuesday killing all 150 on board 144 passengers and six crew membersFrench investigators will comb through the wreckage of Germanwings flight 4U9525 to recover remains and attempt to locate the aircrafts second black box Germanys international broadcaster Deutsche Welle reportedRecovery crews suspended their operations late Tuesday night in the remote Alpine region conditions became too difficultA screen grab taken from an AFP TV video on shows debris of the Germanwings Airbus A320 at the crash site in the French Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne The plane which had taken off from Barcelona in Spain and was headed for Dusseldorf in Germany crashed with 150 people onboard Pic AFPThe weather report is saying they are expecting snow in the early morning and that of course will keep the helicopters on the ground if it is too heavy a Deutsche Welle official saidThe place where the crash happened is about a two hour hike on footCivil aviation investigators from Frances Bureau dEnquetes are scheduled to hold a news conference on the crash Wednesday afternoonThe aircrafts cockpit voice recorder was recovered at the crash site on Tuesday and Lufthansa is working on the assumption that the crash was an accident The Local quoted a senior airline official as sayingFor the time being we say its an accident anything else would be speculation Lufthansa vice president for sales and services in Europe Heike Birlenbach said at the Barcelona airport from where the plane took offBirlenbach said the Airbus A320 has passed its last routine check on Monday and could not explain why it took off 20 minutes lateOnly if those checks are ok aircrafts are allowed to fly Birlenbach addedFrench MP Christophe Castaner who flew over the crash site tweeted 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 destroyedFrench Prime Minister Manuel Valls said tthat here were no survivors adding that the authorities cant rule out any theory on the cause of the disasterAccording to a BBC report 67 of those aboard the plane were German citizens including 16 school children from one high school Joseph Koenig Gymnasium on their way back from an exchange trip as well as two opera singers Maria Radner and Oleg BryjakRadner was travelling with her husband and babyFortyfive of the passengers had Spanish names Spains deputy prime minister saidThe flight was also carrying citizens of Australia Turkey Denmark the Netherlands and BelgiumSandrine Boisse a tourism official from the ski resort of Pra Loup told the BBC that she believed she had heard a strange noise in the mountainsAt first we thought it was on the ski slopes an avalanche but it wasnt the same noise she saidMedia reports indicated that the A320 jetliner was one of the oldest in Germanwings fleet and had served for over 24 years It had flown to Barcelona from Duesseldorf earlier on Tuesday before meeting with the accident on the return flightGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel along with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and French President Francois Hollande will visit the crash site later in the dayGermanwings and Lufthansa have set up a free hotline with number 080011335577 for families of passengers involved for care and assistance