A German Airbus A320 jetliner flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed onto the French Alps near Digne, killing all the 150 people inside – 144 passengers alongside the 6 crew members. Rescuers rushed to the crash scene were unable to save anyone alive. The cockpit voice recorder has been salvaged from the crash site and forensic investigators are using it to find out the cause and course of the crash.
The jetliner belonged to Germanwings – a subsidiary of the largest airline company in Europe, Lufthansa. Germanwings has not yet released a press statement concerning the cause of the crash. However, Lufthansa through its vice president, Heike Birlenbach, have described the crash as an accident. The jetliner had been in service for 24 years.
The plane crashed after a rapid descent from 38,000 feet to 6,000 feet during an eight-minute period after which the air traffic controllers in France lost contact with the jetliner. Hours later, security personnel in the town of Digne-les-Bains relayed information that a plane had crashed, and that its wreckage were strewn all over the crash site.
Most of the passengers were young people, businesspeople and vacationers. Among the dead is Eyal Baum, a 34-years old Israeli, originally from Hod Hasharon but based in Barcelona.
