A Germanwings plane carrying 150 people has crashed in the French Alps on its way from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.The Airbus A320 - flight 4U 9525 - went down between Digne and Barcelonnette. None of the 144 passengers or six crew is expected to have survived.The plane crashed after an eight-minute descent, an official said. It is not clear if it sent a distress signal.The dead are believed to include 16 German schoolchildren. French and German leaders have expressed shock."This is the hour in which we all feel deep sorrow," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters, adding that she was planning to travel to the crash site.A rescue helicopter has reportedly reached the site of the crash, in a remote mountain area.Gilbert Sauvan, a local council official, told Les Echos newspaper that the plane had "disintegrated"."The largest debris is the size of a car," he said.French Alps crash: Live updatesMedia captionThis map from Flightradar24 shows the plane's routeMedia captionAngela Merkel: "This is a time and an hour of great sorrow and grief"The passengers included a German school class on its way back from an exchange trip.Sandrine Boisse, a tourism official from the ski resort of Pra Loup, told the BBC that she had heard a strange noise in the mountains at around 11:00 (10:00 GMT)."At first we thought it was on the ski slopes, an avalanche, but it wasn't the same noise," she said. "I think it was the noise of when a plane goes very quickly down."The plane began descending one minute after reaching its cruising height and continued to lose altitude for eight minutes, Germanwings managing director Thomas Winkelmann told reporters.He said the aircraft lost contact with French air traffic controllers at 10:53 at an altitude of about 6,000 feet.The relatives of passengers aboard the flight receive a police escort at Barcelona airportNews of the crash was also greeted with shock at Duesseldorf airportEarlier reports, quoting the French interior ministry, said the plane had issued a distress call - but this has been contradicted by an aviation official quoted by the AFP news agency.Analysis: Nigel Cassidy, BBC's Europe business reporterAlthough it began its life as an independent low-cost carrier, Germanwings is wholly owned by its parent Lufthansa.It operates increasing numbers of the group's point-to-point short-haul routes and takes many passengers from German cities to Mediterranean sunspots.The airline has an excellent safety record with no previously reported accidents. The average age of its Airbus fleet is just over nine years old, though flight 4U 9525 was a 24-year-old A320.The plan was to phase out the Germanwings brand and replace it with Eurowings.There has been a longstanding dispute with the Vereinigung Cockpit union over early retirement. Pilots went on strike for three days around this time last year.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32030270

God please keep us oh,if na Naija now,they will say we are careless

No they will call GEJ

Omooba77:
God please keep us oh,if na Naija now,they will say we are careless

Apparently, the copilot locked the captain out of the cockpit, then calmly and deliberately slammed the plane into the French Alps...

I am so done flying.

EnlightenedSoul:
Apparently, the copilot locked the captain out of the cockpit, then calmly and deliberately slammed the plane into the French Alps...

I am so done flying.

Fear not Milady

GuyFawkes:


Fear not Milady

Why shouldn't I fear what with pilots falling asleep mid-flight, entire planes 'disappearing' off the grid, and a depressed pilot supposedly committing grand suicide, taking with him a toll of 150+ passengers?

Strange things are happening, Fawkes, lol.

EnlightenedSoul:


Why shouldn't I fear what with pilots falling asleep mid-flight, entire planes 'disappearing' off the grid, and a depressed pilot supposedly committing grand suicide, taking with him a toll of 150+ passengers?

Strange things are happening, Fawkes, lol.

It's a strange world we live in.
But flying remains the safest means. It's so sad he had to take 150 souls with him.
Depression aaargh!!!

GuyFawkes:


It's a strange world we live in.
But flying remains the safest means. It's so sad he had to take 150 souls with him.
Depression aaargh!!!

Yh, I know. But I never liked planes - I'm often anxious on them, and these [recent] headlines are acting as fodder. Even that olddd Indiana Jones actor recently had to crash-land a private plane into a field due to a malfunction, resulting in a broken hipbone. Idk, but plane-related accidents/incidents somehow seem more common nowadays.

How sad.

EnlightenedSoul:


Yh, I know. But I never liked planes - I'm often anxious on them, and these [recent] headlines are acting as fodder. Even that olddd Indiana Jones actor recently had to crash-land a private plane into a field due to a malfunction, resulting in a broken hipbone. Idk, but plane-related accidents/incidents somehow seem more common nowadays.

How sad.

Might be best to stop flying in light off the recent air mishaps. After several years of minimal air accidents,seems it's now occurring too often in spite of the latest technology airplanes are equipped with.

GuyFawkes:


Might be best to stop flying in light off the recent air mishaps. After several years of minimal air accidents,seems it's now occurring too often in spite of the latest technology airplanes are equipped with.

Hey where have you been?

Missy89:


Hey where have you been?

My sister mo wa pa!
How's u?
Shey u don chop aseje well

GuyFawkes:


My sister mo wa pa!
How's u?
Shey u don chop aseje well

Lolz.
Well yes i did .
Looking forward to tomorrow

GuyFawkes:


Might be best to stop flying in light off the recent air mishaps. After several years of minimal air accidents,seems it's now occurring too often in spite of the latest technology airplanes are equipped with.

Idk I'm nearing conspiracy at this point, lol. Jk.

How are you?

EnlightenedSoul:


Idk I'm nearing conspiracy at this point, lol. Jk.

How are you?

Doing great, how's your studies?

Missy89:


Lolz.
Well yes i did .
Looking forward to tomorrow

Hahaha
SaiBuhari!!!

GuyFawkes:


Doing great, how's your studies?

That's good to hear It's been coming along nicely so far.