An Airbus A320 airliner has crashed in the French Alps between Barcelonnette and Digne, French aviation officials and police have said.
The jet belongs to the German low-cost airline Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa.
The plane was reported to be carrying 142 passengers and six crew members.
Both Airbus and Germanwings have said they aware of the reports but cannot yet confirm them.
D-AIPX taking off from  in May 2014.
, an Airbus  carrying 150 passengers and crew, crashed into the  yesterday between  and . Officials said there were no survivors. The plane was flying to , Germany from , Spain. An emergency recovery team made its way to the crash site and reportedly recovered one of the plane's .

According to French authorities, 144 passengers were aboard the plane, reportedly including sixteen school children who were travelling on a German exchange project. A further six crew were present, including the two pilots. The flight was predominately made up of Spanish and German citizens.

The pilots did not send a distress signal. Various officials described the crash as an accident; the  stated terrorism is not believed to be a factor. The weather reportedly was clear when the crash occurred. The plane descended for eight minutes before impact falling, by various reports, more than 30,000 .

French President François Hollande said regarding the accident "I would like to send all our solidarity to the family of the victims... It's a new air tragedy; we must know all the causes. We are in mourning because this accident happened on our territory". He said he has been in contact with both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and King , the later of whom cancelled the remainder of his state visit to France.
 
According to French prosecutor Bruce Robin the plane was completely destroyed. He said "The body of the plane is in a state of destruction, there is not one intact piece of wing or fuselage". He made the comments to  news agency describing his view of the crash site from a helicopter.  

Germanwings is owned by Lufthansa. CEO of Lufthansa  said  "We do not yet know what has happened to flight 4U 9525. My deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of our passengers and crew on 4U 9525. If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Lufthansa. We hope to find survivors."

The plane, registered as D-AIPX, had been in service for nearly 25 years. It first flew on November 29, 1990 and had been last checked earlier this month. 

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