German Plane Crash in French Alps Kills 150

Passengers aboard a low-cost German airliner were killed Tuesday when the plane crashed in a remote part of the French Alps.

French officials announced Tuesday that all 150 passengers aboard the Germanwings Airbus A320 had been killed when the plane crashed near a ski resort in the French Alps. Air control officials first knew the plane was in distress when it lost contact at around 10:50 a.m. Tuesday morning.

"The distress signal showed the plane was at 5,000 feet in an abnormal situation," Alain Vidalies, France's minister of state for transport, told the AFP.

The plane was reportedly en route from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany when it began losing altitude for eight minutes over the Alps before crashing.

Germanwings Airlines is a low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa Airlines.

"The aircraft's contact with French radar, French air traffic controllers ended at 10.53am at an altitude of about 6,000 feet (approximately 1,825 metres). The plane then crashed," Lufthansa unit Germanwings' Managing Director Thomas Winkelmann told Al Jazeera news.

French officials have warned that it will take longer for emergency rescue crews to access the area of the crash, which is not accessible by road.

French President Francois Hollande said in a statement that "it will take some hours for the emergency services to reach the crash site."

The area of the French Alps where the plane crashed is dotted with small villages, and some locals have reported witnessing the plane struggle in the air before crashing.

"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," eyewitness Sebastien Giroux told BFM-TV. "I didn't see anything wrong with the plane, but it was too low."