Germanwings plane flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf disappeared off the radar before crashing near Digne-les-Bains
23.30 Henry Samuel, who is also in the Alps has this from the scene:
Teams of fire services, gendarmes and doctors were gathered last night in the small medieval village of Seyne-les-Alpes after a day's arduous search for debris, black boxes and bodies.
A special centre to welcome victims' families has been set up on the first floor of a gymnasium next to a football pitch. A nearby field used as a gliders' runway was used as a landing pad for helicopters throughout the day.
Doctor Frédéric Jeanpetit, was in the first helicopter that located the wreck and the first three winched down onto the mountain with the mountain rescue gendarmes.
He told the Telegraph: "We did reconnaissance today only. There is tons of debris, most of it little more than a few centimetres across. It’s scattered all over the place. Very little was recognisable, there were no whole bodies, only parts.
"What we found was a wreck dislocated over a very sheer and unstable mountainside. It’s like a glacier, with large sheets of rock and sand. I would say the wreck is strewn over an area covering 200m vertically between the lower and upper part of the wreck and 500m to 600m horizontally.
"The terrain is not only steep, but you also have a very specific type of mountain wiith sand and big rocks in it which when it rains, the water seeps deep into it and makes it very unstable. There are holes, very deep beds, unstable parts, it’s very difficult and dangerous.
"You have to be dropped in by helicopter."
23.05 More detail is emerging about Marina Bandres, a Spanish woman living in Britain, who is thought to be among the dead.
According to EFE news agency, sources close to the family said that Bandrés López-Belio, 37, was on the Germanwings flight to Dusseldorf as she had been unable to find a direct flight to Manchester, where she lived with her husband. She was due to change planes in the German city.
The Manchester Evening News says she had lived in Rochdale and Fallowfield since arriving in the UK.
23.00 Rory Mulholland sends this dispatch from near the scene of the crash in the Alps:
Operation to locate the second flight recorder, and to start bringing debris and body parts down, has shut down for the night and is due to resume at dawn.
A team of 30 gendarmes are due to be helicoptered to the crash zone at dawn Wednesday to prepare the site for crash invesigators to begin their work, said Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Marc Ménichini.
Sixty-five gendarmes started out late on Wednesday to try and find an overland route that might possibly be used in the operation, he said, adding that the group would camp out in the mountains overnight.
But the Lieutenant-Colonel said the area consisted of extremely difficult terrain, full of ravines with inclinations of 60-70 percent.
Claude Torres, a local mountain guide, got to within 500 yards of the crash scene soon after the plane came down.
"There was debris everywhere. You have to wonder how a plane could break up into so many pieces," she told the Telegraph.
"There was not a single piece that I saw that was recognisably from a plane. The biggest bits looked no bigger than a metre long.
"The plane looked like it had smashed into the side if the Tête du Travers mountain.
She said that when she heard that a plane had crashed, she drove to near the site and then walked several miles over difficult mountainous terrain.
"I wanted to see if I could help," she said.The police blocked her bocked her at about 500 yards from the crash scene, but she still got a view over the debris.
22.50 Ben Farmer, reporting from Barcelona, has some more details on the British passengers aboard the flight.
The dead included a Spanish woman living in Britain and her young child, a Spanish politician said.
Marina Bandres was travelling with her son Julian after attending a family funeral in her home town, Jaca.
Victor Barrio, the city's mayor, said he did not know if her husband was on the flight with her and their son, who was seven or eight months old.
22.24 The Foreign Secretary has said it is likely that there were some British nationals on board the Germanwings flight.
Philip Hammond said:
This is a tragic incident for those involved and their families, I send my deepest condolences to those who have lost family or friends.
I don’t want to speculate on numbers of British nationals involved until we have completed our checks on all the passenger information. However, based on the information available to us, it is sadly likely that there were some British nationals on board the flight. We are providing consular assistance and will give further help as more information becomes available. We are working closely with the French, German and Spanish authorities, and the airline, to establish the facts.
The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch, and UK Disaster Victim Identification experts, are also standing by to offer assistance to the French authorities, if required.
22.15 Germanwings flight 4U 9525 in numbers:
23.30 Henry Samuel, who is also in the Alps has this from the scene:
Teams of fire services, gendarmes and doctors were gathered last night in the small medieval village of Seyne-les-Alpes after a day's arduous search for debris, black boxes and bodies.
Teams of fire services, gendarmes and doctors were gathered last night in the small medieval village of Seyne-les-Alpes after a day's arduous search for debris, black boxes and bodies.
A special centre to welcome victims' families has been set up on the first floor of a gymnasium next to a football pitch. A nearby field used as a gliders' runway was used as a landing pad for helicopters throughout the day.
Doctor Frédéric Jeanpetit, was in the first helicopter that located the wreck and the first three winched down onto the mountain with the mountain rescue gendarmes.
He told the Telegraph: "We did reconnaissance today only. There is tons of debris, most of it little more than a few centimetres across. It’s scattered all over the place. Very little was recognisable, there were no whole bodies, only parts.
"What we found was a wreck dislocated over a very sheer and unstable mountainside. It’s like a glacier, with large sheets of rock and sand. I would say the wreck is strewn over an area covering 200m vertically between the lower and upper part of the wreck and 500m to 600m horizontally.
"The terrain is not only steep, but you also have a very specific type of mountain wiith sand and big rocks in it which when it rains, the water seeps deep into it and makes it very unstable. There are holes, very deep beds, unstable parts, it’s very difficult and dangerous.
"You have to be dropped in by helicopter."
23.05 More detail is emerging about Marina Bandres, a Spanish woman living in Britain, who is thought to be among the dead.
According to EFE news agency, sources close to the family said that Bandrés López-Belio, 37, was on the Germanwings flight to Dusseldorf as she had been unable to find a direct flight to Manchester, where she lived with her husband. She was due to change planes in the German city.
The Manchester Evening News says she had lived in Rochdale and Fallowfield since arriving in the UK.
23.00 Rory Mulholland sends this dispatch from near the scene of the crash in the Alps:
Operation to locate the second flight recorder, and to start bringing debris and body parts down, has shut down for the night and is due to resume at dawn.
Operation to locate the second flight recorder, and to start bringing debris and body parts down, has shut down for the night and is due to resume at dawn.
A team of 30 gendarmes are due to be helicoptered to the crash zone at dawn Wednesday to prepare the site for crash invesigators to begin their work, said Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Marc Ménichini.
Sixty-five gendarmes started out late on Wednesday to try and find an overland route that might possibly be used in the operation, he said, adding that the group would camp out in the mountains overnight.
But the Lieutenant-Colonel said the area consisted of extremely difficult terrain, full of ravines with inclinations of 60-70 percent.
Claude Torres, a local mountain guide, got to within 500 yards of the crash scene soon after the plane came down.
"There was debris everywhere. You have to wonder how a plane could break up into so many pieces," she told the Telegraph.
"There was not a single piece that I saw that was recognisably from a plane. The biggest bits looked no bigger than a metre long.
"The plane looked like it had smashed into the side if the Tête du Travers mountain.
She said that when she heard that a plane had crashed, she drove to near the site and then walked several miles over difficult mountainous terrain.
"I wanted to see if I could help," she said.The police blocked her bocked her at about 500 yards from the crash scene, but she still got a view over the debris.
22.50 Ben Farmer, reporting from Barcelona, has some more details on the British passengers aboard the flight.
The dead included a Spanish woman living in Britain and her young child, a Spanish politician said.
Marina Bandres was travelling with her son Julian after attending a family funeral in her home town, Jaca.
Victor Barrio, the city's mayor, said he did not know if her husband was on the flight with her and their son, who was seven or eight months old.
22.24 The Foreign Secretary has said it is likely that there were some British nationals on board the Germanwings flight.
Philip Hammond said:
This is a tragic incident for those involved and their families, I send my deepest condolences to those who have lost family or friends.
I don’t want to speculate on numbers of British nationals involved until we have completed our checks on all the passenger information. However, based on the information available to us, it is sadly likely that there were some British nationals on board the flight. We are providing consular assistance and will give further help as more information becomes available. We are working closely with the French, German and Spanish authorities, and the airline, to establish the facts.
The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch, and UK Disaster Victim Identification experts, are also standing by to offer assistance to the French authorities, if required.
22.15 Germanwings flight 4U 9525 in numbers:
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