Families of air crash victims arrive at Dusseldorf

Families of the passengers on Germanwings flight 4U 9525 which crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday morning have begun arriving at Dusseldorf international airport, amid fears that 16 teenage schoolchildren may have lost their lives.

The students, who were from the small town of Haltern am See in northern Germany, and two of their teachers are believed to have boarded the flight.

Officials at Dusseldorf international airport have been meeting relatives of passengers believed to have been on the flight which took off from Barcelona at 10.01 am local time. The aircraft had been due to arrive at the airport at 11.57 am today.

Families are being brought to a building adjacent to the arrivals hall in the airport, which has been cornered off under a tarpaulin shelter, with emergency services present.

French authorities have said there are no survivors from this morning’s crash, though a spokeswoman for Dusseldorf international airport said the airport had no information regarding injuries or deaths.

There was a heavy media and police presence in the airport - Germany’s third-largest -which is a central hub for flights from the NorthRhine-Westphalia region.

German chancellor Angela Merkel is due to finish the crash scene on Wednesday, near the ski resort area of Barcelonnette,close to the Italian border.

Students and teachers at the small-town German high school in Haltern am See broke down in tears once they realised that 16 classmates and two teachers were on board an ill-fated flight.

The 10th grade students were on their way home after a week-long Spanish exchange programme at the Institut Giola in Llinars del Valls near Barcelona. It was a reciprocal visit after 12 Spanish students had spent a week at their school in December.

“It was a Spanish language exchange programme and they were flying home after having what was probably the most wonderful time of their lives,“ said Sylvia Loehrmann, the education minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

“It‘s so tragic, so sad, so unfathomable,“ she said. Most of the students were about 15 years old.

Haltern am See mayor Bodo Klimpel said that word spread quickly through the school about reports that a plane from Barcelona had gone missing and the students began researching on their own to try to find out more about the plane’s fate.

“And then when the plane didn‘t land and they were unable to make contact with their friends and classmates by cell phone, that‘s when they assumed the worst had happened,“ said the mayor, who was also fighting off tears at a news conference.

“The students were informed that there was a sufficient probability that the plane would not be landing in Duesseldorf,” Klimpel said. “Classes were then called off.”

The students were sent home but many returned in the afternoon with candles in their hands and tears in their eyes to mourn with each other at the school.

“It’s the darkest day in this town‘s history,” said Klimpel, who added some parents nevertheless drove to the airport and some to the school. “We‘re in a state of shock. It‘s the worst thing ever imaginable.“

He said the school would be opened on Wednesday but there wouldn‘t be any normal lessons. “It’ll be a chance for the students to talk about the horrible thing that happened.“

The town lies about 30km to the north of Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen - homes of two major German soccer clubs and former mining towns. It is 50km north of Duesseldorf.

Haltern am See’s history dates back to 1289 and perhaps its most famous son in soccer player Christoph Metzelder, a former Germany defender who also played for Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. Germany defender Benedikt Hoewedes, who plays for Gelsenkirchen‘s Schalke 04 club, is also from Haltern am See.

The nearby Sixtus church and another local church opened their doors for students, teachers and local residents to mourn and flags in the town of 37,000 that lies just north of the Ruhr River Valley industrial area were lowered to half-mast.

The mayor of the Spanish town Llinars del Valles, Marti Pujol, said these kinds of exchanges had been organised for several years with German towns including in the Duesseldorf, Cologne and Hamburg areas. Spanish children had spent a week in December in Haltern am See with German families.

“The whole village is distraught, Mr Pujol said of his town with 9,000 residents. “The families knew each other... The parents had been to see them off at 6 this morning.”

150 people, including six crew members were on board the flight. It is believed 67 German nationals were aboard the plane, and 45 Spanish citizens.

French rescue workers are currently making their way to the remote crash scene, and a team from Germanwings is on its way to the area to assist the rescue operation. Debris is believed to be scattered over a 2 kilometre radius

The French parliament observed a minute's silence for the victims of the crash. Having arrived in Paris minutes after the crash, King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain called off their state visit to France. The 24-year old Airbus plane had been first delivered to Germanwings' parent company Lufthansa in 1991.

Germanwings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa, was established in 2002.

Lufthansa and Germanwings have established a telephone hotline for families of the victims.

In a statement the airlines said they were “deeply shocked and saddened” by the events. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the passengers and crew members.”

Additional reporting: Reuters