The French Transport Ministry say there are no survivors from the crash of a Germanwings Airbus A320 that came down in the southern French Alps.
144 passengers and six crew were on board the airline which was enroute from Barcelona in Spain to the German city of Dusseldorf.
French President Francois Hollande said the crash was a tragedy, adding that the area was very difficult to access.
The French Interior Ministry said the plane did issue a distress call shortly before the crash although details are unclear. There are reports the plane came down rapidly.
Alan Diehl (pronoucned: DEEL) a former air crash investigator with America's National Transportation Safety Board says that is unusual.
IN: It's faily unusual"...
OUT: ...to aircraft.
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