Germany-bound plane conveying 148 people crashes

A  plane conveying nearly 142 passengers and six crew members has crashed in the southern French Alps while flying from Spain to Germany.

Dailymail UK reports that the Airbus A320 disappeared from the radar in the Alpes de Hautes Provence after a distress signal was sent at 10.47am local time (9.47am GMT).

French president, Francois Hollande said survivors are not likely even as debris from the jet, operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline, has been reportedly found near Barcelonnette.

Confirming the crash, the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls said he understood that between 142 and 150 people were on board and may have died in the crash.

Similarly, a spokesman for the DGAC aviation authority said the plane crashed near Barcelonnette town, 100 km north of the French Riviera city of Nice.

Flight data from Flight Aware 24, at 09.30 UTC (10.30 GMT) shows that the aircraft was flying at 38,000 feet at 463 knots.

From the data, it was gathered that it started losing altitude to 37,975 by 10.31am with the speed reportedly increasing to 477kts.

However as at 10.41am, the reported radar returns had the aircraft flying down at 6,800 feet at 378kts.

After ten minutes, the aircraft lurched 31,200 feet.

Lufthansa’s Germanwings unit has however not confirmed the report yet.

The company tweeted: ‘’we have recently become aware of media reports speculating on an incident, though we still do not have any own confirmed information.’’