Photos: The Search for Germanwings Flight 4U9525

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The plane, with 144 passengers on board, dropped from 38,000 feet in just eight minutes over the French Alps.
Germanwings
Photos: The Search for Germanwings Flight 4U9525 Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

On Tuesday morning, Germanwings Flight 4U9525 crashed in the French Alps while flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. On board were 144 passengers and six crew members, mostly German and Spanish citizens.

It is unclear what caused the crash. According to the French Civil Aviation Authority, the plane dropped from 38,000 feet in just eight minutes, an extremely rapid descent.

"There was no smoke or particular sound or sign of anything wrong, but at the altitude it was flying it was clearly not going to make it over the mountains. I didn't see anything wrong with the plane, but it was too low," an eyewitness told BFM-TV, as reported by The Guardian.

Initial photographs of the crash site, which is extremely difficult to reach, show that the plane appears to have disintegrated. Rescue helicopters are working to transport over 200 fire and police officials to the site to search for survivors and investigate the wreckage. French officials do not believe anyone survived the crash.

A rescue helicopter from the French Sécurité Civile flies over the French Alps during a rescue operation after the crash of an Airbus A320 near Seyne-les-Alpes on March 24, 2015. The plane, operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline, was en route from Barcelona to Düesseldorf when it crashed in a remote snowy area of the Alps. All 150 on board are feared dead. Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters