Officials Say The Accident Was Not Survivable

A Germanwings A320 on a flight from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf in Germany has gone down in the mountainous region of southern France carrying 142 passengers and six crew. French officials say there are no survivors from the accident.

Multiple media reports indicate that, according to French aviation authority spokesman Eric Héraud, the pilots declared an emergency at 10:47 local time and made a rapid descent from FL380 to 5,000 feet over the town of Barcelonnette in the Alpes de Haute-Provence region.

The wreckage was discovered near the town of Prads-Haute-Bléone by the crew of a French military helicopter. The New York Times reports that one unnamed source said that the debris of the airplane had been strewn over about five acres of rough terrain.

Most of the passengers were thought to be German. French President Francois Hollande said he would be in touch with both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spain's King Felipe VI, who was scheduled to visit France on Tuesday. He said all information pertaining to the accident would be shared with German and Spanish authorities.

(Germanwings A319 pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.bea.aero/en