By Scotty Schenck, photo editor
A plane flying from Barcelona crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday, killing 150.
All of the passengers on Germanwings flight 4U 9525 died when the plane went down yesterday morning. According to BBC, the low-cost airline has had an excellent track-record of safety. A recovery team was sent on Tuesday and was called off today. German chancellor Angela Merkel said the every aspect of the incident will be investigated.
“This is a time and an hour of great sorrow, of great grief. We should be thinking about people who have lost relatives and lost friends,” she said in a press conference yesterday.
According to the New York Times, one of the black boxes, which contained the voice recording of the cockpit, was recovered. The second black box, which contains flight data, is yet to be located. The airline said the flight fell from 38,000 feet at 10:45 a.m. to 6,000 feet at 10:53 a.m., the time when the plane lost contact with the radar.
The flight was headed to Düsseldorf, Germany. The victims included two Americans and 16 German High School students, according to USA Today. The high school students, visiting Barcelona as part of an annual exchange program, went to school in Haltern am See in northern Germany. The mayor of the city expressed his grief on the tragedy.
“This is the darkest day in the history of our city,” Bodo Klimpel said. “It is about the worst thing imaginable.”
The Airbus A320s remnants are scattered over an area the size of 2 square kilometers, according to The Guardian. Former crash investigator Olivier Ferrante said that the small size of the pieces of debris indicates the plane’s speed was high when it crashed into the mountains.
Airbus commented on the matter over Twitter on the night of the crash.
“We are aware of the media reports. All efforts are now going towards assessing the situation,” the company posted yesterday.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also commented on the crash in a press conference on Tuesday, trying to comfort those affected.
“We’re going to do everything in our power to help … to help the families and give them our support,” he said.
President Barack Obama also commented on the crash during a press conference yesterday, giving his support and condolences to the countries and families involved.
“Germany and Spain are among our strongest allies in the world and our message to them is that as their steadfast friend and ally, ‘America stands with them at this moment of sorrow,’” he said.
Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
