A Plane Carrying 142 Passengers Has Crashed In France

A plane carrying 142 passengers has crashed in France; there are likely no survivors. An Airbus 320 flying from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany, has crashed in southern France, it is reported. The Germanwings flight was carrying 142 passengers and six crew members, according to AFP, and crashed in the southern French alps.

"The plane crashed just 2 kilometers from here, high on a mountain," an eye witness said. "There was loud noise and then suddenly nothing. At first I thought it came from fighter jets that often hold drills in the area."

The exact number of casualties has not yet been confirmed, but French officials said in statements that there were unlikely to be any survivors.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters: "We of course don't know the reasons for the crash. We obviously fear that the 142 to 150 passengers and crew died today, given the conditions of this crash."

French President Francois Holland echoed this statement, saying "the conditions of the accident suggests that there would be no survivors." The plane reportedly sent a distress signal at about 10:47 a.m. local time. It took off from Barcelona at 10:01 a.m. and disappeared from radar screens at about 11:15 a.m., confirmed a reports .

The plane dropped to a cruising altitude of just 5,000 feet from 38,000 feet, The New York Times reports . Weather conditions were reportedly good at the time of the crash. Dozens of firefighters and police officers headed to the crash site, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

Bodies from the crash are being taken to an emergency morgue that has been set up in a nearby gym, according to a reporter as well.