A German Wings jet have crashed on Tuesday in the French Alps while on its way to the German city of Dusseldorf from Barcelona in Spain. The plane is an Airbus A320 with 148 people on board made up of 142 passengers and six crew.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has confirmed the crash near Digne les Baines in the Alpes de Haute Provence region. It occurred at 10:30 am, said French Police Capt Benoit Zesser, reports CNN.

According to French President Francois Holland, if the crash happened in such a remote area, the chance of any survivors is remote, reports USA Today. He said, “It’s a tragedy on our soil.”

Zesser said that the difficulty of the terrain makes it difficult for rescuers to access. The crash site is almost halfway between Barcelona and Dusseldorf, which makes it quite rare since crashes often happen during takeoff or landing, according to CNN aviation analyst David Soucie.

German Wings has not yet officially confirmed the crash, although it earlier tweeted that it does not have any confirmed information, but it has launched an investigation, said Lufthansa spokesman Kim Jucknat. German Wings is the low-cost carrier and subsidiary of Lufthansa.

French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the debris from the crash has been located. The Alps, where it crashed, has an altitude of 2,000 metres.
The subsidiary has no prior record of accident. While the average age of German Wings’ fleet is nine years old, the one that reportedly crashed is 24 years old, BBC reports.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au

RELATED STORIES