Two babies, 16 school children among 150 victims of Germanwings Alps crash

German officials have confirmed 16 school children and two babies were aboard a Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday. The plane was carrying 144 passengers and six crew from the Spanish coastal city of Barcelona to the German city of Duesseldorf when it went down in the ski resort area of Barcelonnette. A French search and rescue team reached the crash site and confirmed there were no survivors “whatsoever”. The airline believed there were 67 Germans on the flight. Spain’s deputy prime minister said 45 passengers had Spanish names.

A helicopter managed to land (by the crash site) and has confirmed that unfortunately there were no survivors.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls

The 16 children and two teachers were from Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in the town of Haltern am See in northwest Germany, a spokeswoman said. Spanish King Felipe VI cut short his state visit to France on news of the tragedy, with up to 45 Spanish nationals believed to be among the dead along with 67 Germans. Exact information about the nationalities on board was not immediately available because European Union manifests are no longer required to list specific European nationalities.

World German Wings