Passenger plane carrying 142 passengers has crashed in the French Alps

[Pantone363]

BBC link

[Pantone363]

Sorry 148 people

[BabyGanoush]

oh no!

[lotsofcheese]

Oh no! It's been a terrible year for aviation.

[lotsofcheese]

The French president is reported to say (on the bbc website) that they do not expect survivors,

[Justusemyname]

So tragic .

[Pantone363]

It sounds awful but it seems to hit harder when it's somehwhere "closer" to home.

Hoping for some survivors. Those poor people

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

Awful tragedy, thoughts with the families.

[mousmous]

how tragic.

[TurquoiseDress]

Yes it does feel more of a shock as it is closer to home plus isn't the airline the German equivalent of Easyjet or Ryanair.

We fly a lot with the budget airlines to France/Italy/Spain. This kind of thing you just wouldn't imagine happening

[Justusemyname]

Two babies on board .

[balletgirlmum]

They said on the radio there may be 16 children from the same school.

That really hits home to me as ds is about to go on a school trip involving a flight.

Terrible tragedy.

[Justusemyname]

"All 144 passengers and six crew were today presumed dead after the Airbus A320 crashed in a remote region of the French Alps en route from Spain to Germany. Debris from the jet, operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline, has been found scattered over a wide area near Barcelonnette in an inhospitable region of the Alps. Witnesses have described hearing an explosion 'like the sound of dynamite' then seeing fighter jets fly past, suggesting the passenger plane had been under military escort. Two babies were among 45 Spaniards feared dead, while 16 German schoolchildren are also believed to have been killed. Grieving families have been gathering at Dusseldorf airport in Germany, where the jet was due to land, to await news of the rescue and recovery operation."

[Northernlurker]

One of our friends' children is on a school exchange at the moment. Doesn't bear thinking of.

Dd3 saw me reading about it on the BBC site with a headline of no survivors and asked if children were involved. I hadn't seen the story about the german exchange children then and I just said something very bracing about it being school time so of course there weren't children on the plane. I feel a bit bad now that I've accidentally lied to her but tbh I wouldn't tell her the truth now. There are some things kids don't have to deal with unless they have to iyswim.

[CoteDAzur]

That is only about 60 miles from where we are. We go skiing to mountains near there

[Justusemyname]

No need to feel bad, Northern. It was a realistic answer. .

[SingSongSlummy]

It's just awful, I've been watching the news and feel so sad for all the families.

[MillieV]

Awful... Terrible past few months for aviation.

How will the small town those schoolkids are from cope?

[justkeeponsmiling]

I'm from near Düsseldorf. My friend is a stewardess for Germanwings, she was on the ground at the time of the crash.
I fly with them 4 or 5 times a year.
I'm in complete shock. Absolutely devastated. Those poor, poor people.

[knackered69]

12 days ago I flew back from Barcelona with Lufthansa via Frankfurt over the alps - it was a work trip and booked very last minute - hence flying via frankfurt. I sound like im being dramatic and indulgent but when I heard it on the radio I felt physically sick - those poor poor people and their families... Ironically before I went ds2 was worried about the plane crashing, and and I spent much time reassuring him that the chances of a short European hop crashing were negligible - those poor poor people...

[cdtaylornats]

From the ATC / pilots forums there was no mayday from the aircraft it appears to have descended rapidly then leveled out for a short time before crashing - there were two military aircraft in the area - an Italian fighter that squaked a 7700 code which is a general emergency code which may have applied either to itself or the passenger jet. The other military aircraft was there later and is a French Command and Control aircraft. French ATC asked other aircraft to look for the crash site so the flight wasn't being escorted.

[BunnyCake]

Just seen on the bbc news site that there are likely to have been British people on board. I don't really understand how they would only just have realised this. Surely there would have been relatives who would have known they were on that flight.

[meditrina]

It means that the press held back whilst officials located the NOK, gave them a few hours to grieve privately, and to take down social media profiles.

But it seems news has begun to leak out, so holding line was probably necessary, so they get one night before it all goes public.

[BunnyCake]

Thanks. It's just that it was widely reported that there were likely to have been germans/spaniards/turks pretty much immediately. Wouldn't the reasons you mentioned apply to those families too?

[Northernlurker]

Given that the plan was flying between Spain and Germany those nationalities were sadly a foregone conclusion. I think the BBC does try to be responsible in what it reports in these circumstances and allow a bit of time to pass. Of course that wouldn't help you if you had a relative in Barcelona planning to take a flight. It's just awful.

Knackered - I've just seen photos from the German school and I feel sick too. Two years ago my eldest was on exchange, this year it's my friend's son. Different airline, different flight path but still you can't help but think about what could be and it's very scary.

[meditrina]

It would, but each nation deals with matters relating to its citizens in its own way.

And the other possibility is that the person of people involved may have been dual nationals (compare the Spanish authorities' statement giving the number of those with apparently Spanish names, which gave some idea of scale of their casualties but did not confirm specifically).

Or the apparently British person might be resident somewhere other than Britain. Or NOK could not be readily located. I could come up with quite a few other possibilities, but I think those are the main ones.