Pray for the souls on board the Germanwings airliner that they were taken up before they knew what happened - Airliner crashes into French Alps

Germanwings airliner crashes in French Alps

• 11 minutes ago
 
• From the sectionEurope

The Germanwings airliner, similar to this one, had been flying to Dusseldorf in Germany

An Airbus A320 airliner has crashed in the French Alps between Barcelonnette and Digne, French aviation officials and police have said.

The jet belongs to the German airline Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa.

The plane had reportedly been en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf and was carrying 142 passengers and six crew.

French President Francois Hollande said: "The conditions of the accident, which have not yet been clarified, lead us to think there are no survivors."

Mr Hollande said the crash was a tragedy and called for solidarity with the victims, adding that the area of the crash was very difficult to access.

The plane had issued a distress call at 10:47 (09:47 GMT), according to sources quoted by AFP news agency.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he had sent Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to the scene and a ministerial crisis cell to co-ordinate the incident had been set up.

Both Airbus and Germanwings have said they are aware of the reports but cannot yet confirm them.