Black box found in French Alps Airbus disaster
FRENCH rescuers yesterday located the black box flight recorder of the Germanwings Airbus 320 that plummeted to earth in the French Alps en route between Barcelona and Dusseldorf.
Germanwings flight 4U9525 was carrying 144 passengers and six crew members, the carrier, a low-cost unit owned by Lufthansa, confirmed.
French officials said that there were likely to be no survivors and that they would resume search operations today due to bad weather.
The airline said it believed there were 67 Germans on the flight while Spain’s deputy prime minister said 45 passengers had Spanish names. One Belgian and an Israeli national were also on board. Among the victims were 16 children and two teachers from the same school in north west Germany.
Germanwings said the plane started descending one minute after reaching a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet and continued to plummet for eight minutes. The airline said: “Everyone at Germanwings and Lufthansa is deeply shocked and saddened by these events. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the passengers and crew members.”