Germanwings Airbus A320 downed in France: First images emerge from crash site in Alps

All 150 people on board the flight are feared dead

An helicopter of civil security services is seen in Seyne, south-eastern France, near the site where a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps (ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty Images)

French authorities are preparing to launch a large search and rescue mission to the crash site of the downed Germanwings flight in southern France, though no survivors are expected to be found.

The Airbus A320 bound for Dusseldorf from Barcelona crashed into the Alps at around 10.47am local time on Tuesday morning, in what President Francis Hollande called “a tragedy on our soil”.

Local officials and mountain guides said the snow was “very deep” where the plane crashed, and that the area suffers regular avalanches that will hamper any recovery effort.

Alain Vidalies, the French transport minister, confirmed that no rescue workers have yet reached the site on foot, but that helicopters had flown over and seen bodies around the debris.