Germanwings Airbus A320 crashes in French Alps, no survivors expected

LONDON (ShareCast) - A Germanwings Airbus A320 en route to Dusseldorf from Barcelona has crashed in the French Alps near Digne on Tuesday morning. 1249: French president Francois Hollande said the victims of the crash were most likely from Spain, Germany and Turkey.

1246: Reports in Spain suggest that while 45 passengers had a Spanish surname, the number of Spanish nationals on the plane was 42.

1243: A hotel worker in Digne, the closest town to the suspected crash site, was quoted as saying by BBC Radio 5 live the plane was flying "very low".

1234: Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy has said in a news conference that he has already spoken with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as with the Spanish King who was in France, Catalonia's regional leader Artur Mas and his main opposition leader socialist Pedro Sánchez 1227: Reports from Spain indicate 45 of the passengers on board were Spanish and Barcelona airport has set up a room in Terminal 2 for family members, according to officials in Catalonia.

1212: German air safety experts are on the way to the crash site, according to Reuters. 1210: According to French satellite channel BFMTV, Germanwings is due to hold a news conference at 14:00 GMT at Cologne-Bonn airport 1200 : Rescuers are now understood to be taking bodies of victims to an emergency morgue set up in a village not far from the site of the crash, according to the Daily Mirror's chief reporter Andy Lines. He added that the crash looked to have happened in the proximity of a ski slope.

1146: French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet says debris from the crash of an Airbus A320 have been located and the plane crashed at 2,000 meters altitude in the Alps, near the town of Barcelonnette, about 100 km north of Nice (Milan: NICE.MI - news) . He told BFM television that he expected "an extremely long and extremely difficult" search and rescue operation because of the area's remoteness.

1140: Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said on Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) that the cause of the crash was still unknown. "We do not yet know what has happened to flight 4U9525," he said. "My deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of our passengers and crew on 4U9525. If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Lufthansa. We hope to find survivors." 1134: Lufthansa shares were down 4.67% to €13.12, while Airbus shares were down 2.2% to €58.52.

1129 : The plane made a distress call at 09:47 GMT then disappeared off the radar at around 10:20 GMT and French president Francois Hollande has confirmed the authorities expect to find "no survivors".

He added the crash happened in "an area that was very difficult to access" and did not know whether any homes had been affected on the ground.

"Solidarity is our first sentiment at this moment," he said.

1125 : The German air traffic control has confirmed the plane has crashed, while the French transport minister said a distress call was received by air traffic control at 09:47 UCT (09:47 GMT). According to reports, search and rescue teams are heading to the crash site at Méolans-Revel in the French Alps.

Meanwhile, the altitude and speed graphs of flight 4U9525 suggest the plane entered a steep but constant descent before crashing.

1059: According to reports from AFP, flight 4U9525 lost contact when flying at an altitude of 6800 feet altitude. The flight, operated by Lufthansa-owned Germanwings was carrying 148 passengers, including six crew members. The plane was 24 years old and had been with the Lufthansa since 1991, according to online database airfleets.net