Tragedy in the Alps; Plane Carrying 150 Crashes, Disintegrates—No Survivors Likely

Aimee Herd : Mar 24, 2015
FOX News

Please pray for the families of those onboard.

(France)—According to reports, French president Francois Hollande confirmed on Tuesday that a plane has crashed somewhere in the southern French Alps, saying "a tragedy that has occurred on our land." (Photo: AFP/via BBC News)

Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 (an Airbus 320) crashed after about 50 minutes into its flight from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany.

The plane was carrying 150 passengers and crew members. Early reports mistakenly reported that a distress call was made by the crew, however, new reports stated that there were no distress calls at all; in fact there was no contact whatsoever by the pilots with ground control.

Authorities warned from the start that there would be no survivors, and as rescue helicopters neared the crash site, that appeared to be true. The debris was reported to be in very small pieces and scattered over a wide area with the largest parts only as big as a car.

There were reportedly two babies and 16 German schoolchildren on board.

Witnesses on the ground report hearing unusual sounds overhead before the plane went down. Pierre Polizzi told the AP, "I heard a series of loud noises in the air," he said. "There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside, but I couldn't see any fighter planes." (Graphic via Fox News)

Polizzi added that because of the steep and snow-covered terrain, the search and recovery effort would likely be a very difficult one.

It remains a mystery as to what brought the plane down for now, however searchers will attempt to recover both the cockpit recorder and the flight data recorder, which will likely give the information on what happened.