150 dead in Germanwings crash

French emergency services workers (back) and members of the French gendarmerie gather in Seyne, south-eastern France, on March 24, 2015, near the site where a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps. A German airliner crashed near a ski resort in the French Alps on March 24, killing all 150 people on board, in the worst plane disaster in mainland France in four decades. AFP PHOTO / BORIS HORVATBORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images

A Germanwings plane has crashed overnight in the French Alps, killing all 150 on board.

The flight 4U9525 was en route to Düsseldorf from Barcelona, and was carrying 144 passengers, four cabin crew and two pilots.

On board the Germanwings plane were two Australians, a Victorian mother and her adult son, along with 45 Spaniards, and 67 Germans, according to reports from The Guardian.

Among the 67 Germans were also 16 school children.

An unexplained descent lasting eight minutes began about 45 minutes into the flight, The Guardian reported, with the plane dropping from its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet to 6000 feet. Contact was lost at 10:53am, when the plane was at 6000ft.

The search and recovery mission has been severely hindered due to the difficult terrain of the crash site in the French Alps, with a snow storm now expected to move into the region in the next 12 hours, slowing the process even further.

The French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has been reported saying the black box has been recovered, although no explanations as to the cause of the Germanwings crash have been offered.

According to the most recent reports from The Guardian, the UK foreign secretary Phillip Hammond has issued a statement saying it’s “sadly likely” there were British nationals aboard Lufthansa’s budget carrier Germanwings plane.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has issued a statement this morning on the crash.

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