A police car is parked outside the Josef-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in Haltern am See, March, 24, 2015. 
 
 A police tape is stretched outside the Josef-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in Haltern am See, March, 24, 2015. 
 
 Students gather in front of lit candles outside the Josef-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in Haltern am See, March, 24, 2015. 
 
 Lit candles are placed outside the Josef-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in Haltern am See, March, 24, 2015. The text reads: 'In silent sympathy.' 
 
 Students embrace in front of lit candles outside the Josef-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in Haltern am See, March, 24, 2015. 
 
 HALTERN AM SEE, Germany Students and teachers at a small-town German high school broke down in tears once they realized that 16 classmates and two teachers were on board an ill-fated Germanwings airplane that crashed in France on Tuesday on a flight to Duesseldorf. 
 
 The 10th grade students from the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium high school were on their way home after a week-long Spanish exchange program at the Institut Giola in Llinars del Vallès near Barcelona. It was a reciprocal visit after 12 Spanish students had spent a week at their school in December. 
 
 "It was a Spanish language exchange program and they were flying home after having what was probably the most wonderful time of their lives," said Sylvia Loehrmann, the education minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. 
 
 "It's so tragic, so sad, so unfathomable," she said. Most of the students were about 15 years old. 
 
 The Airbus operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 on board. Germanwings confirmed its flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf went down with 144 passengers and six crew. 
 
 Haltern am See mayor Bodo Klimpel said that word spread quickly through the school about reports that a plane from Barcelona had gone missing and the students began researching on their own to try to find out more about the plane's fate. 
 
 "And then when the plane didn't land and they were unable to make contact with their friends and classmates by cell phone, that's when they assumed the worst had happened," said the mayor, who was also fighting off tears at a news conference. 
 
 "The students were informed that there was a sufficient probability that the plane would not be landing in Duesseldorf," Klimpel said. "Classes were then called off." 
 
 CANDLES AND TEARS 
 
 The students were sent home but many returned in the afternoon with candles in their hands and tears in their eyes to mourn with each other at the school. 
 
 "It's the darkest day in this town's history," said Klimpel, who added some parents nevertheless drove to the airport and some to the school. "We're in a state of shock. It's the worst thing ever imaginable." 
 
 He said the school would be opened on Wednesday but there wouldn't be any normal lessons. "It'll be a chance for the students to talk about the horrible thing that happened." 
 
 The town lies about 30 km (20 miles) to the north of Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen - homes of two major German soccer clubs and former mining towns. It is 50 km (30 miles) north of Duesseldorf. 
 
 Haltern am See's history dates back to 1289 and perhaps its most famous son in soccer player Christoph Metzelder, a former Germany defender who also played for Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. Germany defender Benedikt Hoewedes, who plays for Gelsenkirchen's Schalke 04 club, is also from Haltern am See. 
 
 The nearby Sixtus church and another local church opened their doors for students, teachers and local residents to mourn and flags in the town of 37,000 that lies just north of the Ruhr River Valley industrial area were lowered to half-mast. 
 
 The mayor of the Spanish town Llinars del Valles, Marti Pujol, told Reuters that these kinds of exchanges had been organized for several years with German towns including in the Duesseldorf, Cologne and Hamburg areas. Spanish children had spent a week in December in Haltern am See with German families. 
 
 "The whole village is distraught, Pujol said of his town with 9,000 residents. "The families knew each other... The parents had been to see them off at 6 this morning." 
 
 (Additional reporting by Sarah White in Madrid; Writing by Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin; Editing by Giles Elgood) ||||| 1:03 a.m. (0003 GMT, 20:03 EDT) 
 
 Germanwings has had to cancel seven flights out of Dusseldorf because a number of crew members felt they were unfit to fly following news of the accident. 
 
 Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said Tuesday evening that he understood the crew members' sentiments. 
 
 "One must not forget: many of our Germanwings crews have known crew members who were onboard the crashed plane," Spohr said. 
 
 "It is now more important to ensure psychological assistance if needed. And we will get back to a full flight operation as soon as possible then. But for me, this is rather secondary now," he added. 
 
 11:10 p.m. (2210 GMT,6:10 p.m. EDT) 
 
 Hundreds of students, parents and townspeople from a small Spanish town have gathered at a weekly mass to mourn a group of German exchange students who died in the plane crash over the French Alps after visiting the town. 
 
 The mass at a local church turned into an unofficial outpouring of grief for the students and their two teachers who were among the 150 people who died in the crash Tuesday. 
 
 Andrea Perez Martinez, 20, who had participated in the exchange with the German school in Haltern four years ago came to mourn the loss of one of the two teachers, whom she identified as Claudia. 
 
 "This really hurts because the teacher, one of the two that died, was with us on the trips we took and everything when we went there," Perez Martinez said. 
 
 The Spanish school that hosted the German students, Institut Giola, said in a statement: "We extend our condolences to the victims of this tragic accident as well as the educational community of the Joseph-Konig-Gymnasium" in Germany. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:50 p.m. (2150 GMT, 5:50 p.m. EDT) 
 
 Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr says initial information about the cause of the plane crash over the French Alps, which killed all 150 people onboard, should be available "relatively quickly." 
 
 Spohr expressed satisfaction that authorities had found the first black box from the Germanwings plane that crashed on its way from Barcelona to Duesseldorf and said he would not speculate on the cause of the crash until its data had been analyzed. 
 
 Spohr told Germany's ARD television the firm and investigators would "try to find out and then understand how this blackest day of our company's 60-year history could happen." 
 
 Germanwings is a low-cost carrier owned by Lufthansa. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:45 p.m. (2045 GMT, 4:45 p.m. EDT) 
 
 The mayor of the small Spanish town of Jaca in the Pyrenees mountains says that a woman originally from the town died in the crash along with her baby boy. 
 
 Jaca Mayor Victor Barrio said Marina Bandres had been attending a funeral in Jaca for a relative and was taken to the Barcelona airport by her father. 
 
 Bandres lived in Britain. Barrio did not know if her husband was on the flight with her and the boy, Julian, who was seven or eight months old. 
 
 The second baby on the flight that crashed on its way from Barcelona to Duesseldorf was the child of German opera singer Maria Radner and her husband, also on the flight. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:35 p.m. (2035 GMT, 4:35 p.m. EDT) 
 
 A rescue official says about 10 police will spend the night at the site of a Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps to guard it. 
 
 Lt. Col. Jean-Marc Meninchini of the regional police rescue service said search operations will resume at daybreak. 
 
 He said the recovery operation is expected to last a week. 
 
 Officials have said all 150 onboard the plane were likely killed when it crashed on its way from Barcelona in Spain to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:00 p.m. (2000 GMT, 4:00 p.m. EDT) 
 
 French authorities have called off the search of the crash site in the French Alps of a Germanwings airplane with 150 people aboard, after night fell on the hard-to-reach area. 
 
 Lt. Col. Simon-Pierre Delannoy of the regional police rescue service said on BFM television that the conditions for the search had become too difficult. 
 
 Helicopters stopped flying over the area at nightfall. 
 
 The complex search operation was expected to resume Wednesday morning. 
 
 The Airbus A320 was traveling from Barcelona to Duesseldorf when it crashed Tuesday on a mountainside near Meolans-Revels and the popular Pra Loup ski resort. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:20 p.m. (1920 GMT, 3:20 p.m. EDT) 
 
 A Spanish opera house says a second singer, German contralto Maria Radner along with her husband and baby, were among the 150 victims of the plane crash in the French Alps. 
 
 Earlier Tuesday, an opera house in Duesseldorf said bass baritone Oleg Bryjak was on the plane which crashed on its way from Barcelona in Spain to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu said Radner, like Bryjak, had performed in its production of Richard Wagner's "Siegfried." 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:55 p.m. (1855 GMT, 2:55 p.m. EDT) 
 
 German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the crash site is "a picture of horror." 
 
 After being flown over the crash scene and briefed by French authorities, he said: "The grief of the families and friends is immeasurable. We must now stand together. We are united in our great grief." 
 
 He was also quoted by his ministry as thanking the French for their "exemplary" help. 
 
 The Germanwings flight crashed in France on its way from Barcelona, Spain, to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:35 p.m. (1835 GMT, 2:35 p.m. EDT) 
 
 Germany's soccer federation says the national team, the World Cup holder, will play with black armbands when it takes on Australia in a friendly Wednesday. 
 
 It said there will be a minute of silence before kick-off for the 150 people who died when a Germanwings plane crashed in the French Alps en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf. 
 
 Federation President Wolfgang Niersbach said "this overshadows everything." 
 
 "We owe it the victims and their families to commiserate as a soccer family." 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:05 p.m. (1805 GMT, 2:05 p.m EDT) 
 
 A Lufthansa vice president says the company is treating the crash of a Germanwings jet in France that carried 150 people as an accident for "the time being." 
 
 Heike Birlenbach told reporters in Barcelona that for now "we say it is an accident. There is nothing more we can say right now." 
 
 She also said that the plane, bound for Duesseldorf in Germany, took off from Barcelona 30 minutes late Tuesday but did not know what caused the delay. 
 
 The Airbus A320 was inspected by Lufthansa's technical team on Monday. 
 
 Germanwings is a low-cost carrier owned by Lufthansa. 
 
 ___ 
 
 6:50 p.m. (1750 GMT, 1:50 p.m EDT) 
 
 An opera house in Duesseldorf says bass baritone Oleg Bryjak was among the 150 people onboard the plane that crashed in the French Alps. 
 
 Officials believe all onboard were likely killed when the plane crashed on its way from Barcelona in Spain to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 The Deutsche Oper am Rhein said Bryjak was on his way back from Barcelona, where he had sung Alberich in Richard Wagner's "Siegfried" at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. 
 
 Director Christoph Meyer said that "we have lost a great performer and a great person in Oleg Bryjak. We are stunned." 
 
 ___ 
 
 6:30 p.m. (1730 GMT, 1:30 p.m EDT) 
 
 A French Interior Ministry official says the black box has been recovered from the site in the French Alps where a plane carrying 150 people crashed. 
 
 The official, who was not authorized to speak about the crash publicly, confirmed to The Associated Press that the black box was in hand. 
 
 French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve earlier Tuesday said the black box had been located and would be handed to investigators in coming hours. 
 
 Officials believe all onboard were likely killed when the plane crashed on its way from Barcelona in Spain to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 ___ 
 
 5:50 p.m. (1650 GMT, 12:50 p.m. EDT) 
 
 French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says a black box has been located at the site in the French Alps where a plane crashed while traveling from Barcelona to Duesseldorf. 
 
 Cazeneuve, speaking from the Alps region, said the black box had been located and would ultimately help in the investigation into the cause of the crash Tuesday. 
 
 It wasn't immediately clear if the box had been recovered. 
 
 Officials believe all 150 people onboard the plane were likely killed when it crashed. 
 
 ___ 
 
 5:25 p.m. (1625 GMT, 12:25 p.m. EDT) 
 
 A spokesman for the French Civil Aviation authority says the plane that crashed in the French Alps with 150 people on board never sent out a distress signal. 
 
 Eric Heraud said the plane lost radio contact at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, but "never declared a distress alert itself." 
 
 He said it was the combination of loss of radio contract with control and the plane's descent which prompted the control service to declare a distress. 
 
 Heraud said six investigators from the Bureau of Accident Investigations, or BEA, were en route from Paris and would be at the crash site by evening. One investigator from the region was already present, he said. 
 
 Officials believe all onboard were likely killed when the plane crashed on its way from Barcelona in Spain to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 ___ 
 
 5:15 p.m. (1615 GMT, 12:15 p.m. EDT) 
 
 The German North Rhine-Westphalia state Education Ministry says a group of 16 tenth-graders and their two teachers were on board the Germanwings plane that crashed in France. 
 
 Ministry spokeswoman Barbara Loecherbach told The Associated Press on Tuesday they had confirmed the school group from a high school in the city of Haltern, northeast of Duesseldorf, were on board the plane. 
 
 Haltern Mayor Bodo Klimpel told reporters at a press conference "this is, of course, the worst thing you could imagine." 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:55 p.m. (1555 GMT, 11:55 a.m. EDT) 
 
 French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says 10 helicopters and a military plane have been mobilized to the site in the French Alps where a Germanwings plane crashed en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf. 
 
 At a news conference at Seyne les Alpes, Cazeneuve left open the possibility that some of the 150 people onboard could have survived. 
 
 He said "the violence of the shock leaves little hope," but refused to be categorical. 
 
 A photo of the crash scene from La Provence newspaper showed scattered flecks across a mountain and several larger pieces which appear to be part of the body of the plane, with five windows seen on one and four on another. 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:40 p.m. (1540 GMT, 11:40 a.m. EDT) 
 
 A German official says a high school group returning from an exchange in Spain was on board the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard. 
 
 The school they had visited, about 45 minutes from Barcelona, told The Associated Press that 16 students from the town of Haltern in Germany had been on a weeklong exchange that ended Tuesday. 
 
 North Rhine-Westphalia state Education Minister Sylvia Loerhmann said Tuesday that "we know that the school group boarded the plane," the dpa news agency reported. 
 
 Local police said they are still waiting on official confirmation the students had been killed, but have already sent staff to the school to assist students and teachers. The school refused to comment. 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:20 p.m. (1520 GMT, 11:20 a.m. EDT) 
 
 A spokeswoman for the U.S. National Security Council says there is no indication the plane crash in the French Alps was the result of terrorism. 
 
 Bernadette Meehan said in a statement Tuesday "there is no indication of a nexus to terrorism at this time." 
 
 The White House says American officials have been in touch with French, German and Spanish officials to offer assistance. 
 
 Officials say all 150 people onboard were likely killed when the plane crashed in the French Alps Tuesday as it was flying from Barcelona in Spain to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:05 p.m. (1505 GMT, 11:05 a.m. EDT) 
 
 A local lawmaker says the debris from the plane crash in the French Alps that killed all 150 people on board is spread over 100-200 meters (110-220 yards). 
 
 Gilbert Sauvan, president of the general council of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, told the AP that "everything is pulverized." 
 
 He said the largest pieces of debris are the size of a small car. 
 
 Sauvan said no one can access the site from the ground, but that helicopters are circling the area to get information and 500 firefighters and gendarmes are in the area. 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:50 p.m. (1450 GMT, 10:50 a.m. EDT) 
 
 French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says a helicopter has managed to land near where a passenger plane carrying 150 people crashed in the Alps, and has found there were no survivors. 
 
 The weather in the area deteriorated Tuesday afternoon, with a chilly rain falling. 
 
 Gilbert Sauvan, of the local council, told Les Echos newspaper, "The plane is disintegrated." 
 
 "The largest debris is the size of a car," he added. 
 
 The Germanwings Airbus 320 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, Germany, came down in the mountains on Tuesday morning after an eight-minute descent from its cruising height. Officials said they are still establishing whether there was a distress call. 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:20 p.m. (1420 GMT, 10:20 a.m. EDT) 
 
 The boss of airline Germanwings says the plane went into a long descent before it crashed into the French Alps, likely killing all 150 people on board. 
 
 Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann said the plane began descending again shortly after it reached its cruising height following takeoff from Barcelona Airport. The descent lasted eight minutes, he told reporters in Cologne. Radar and air traffic control contact broke off at 10:53 a.m. 
 
 He said the pilot had more than 10 years' experience working for Germanwings and its parent airline Lufthansa. Airbus said the A320 was delivered to Lufthansa in 1991. 
 
 Germanwings said the passenger manifest included two babies. Officials believe there were 67 German nationals on board. 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:05 p.m. (1405 GMT, 10:05 a.m. EDT) 
 
 Officials at two airports are rushing to provide help and information to relatives and friends of the passengers aboard the crashed Germanwings flight 9525. 
 
 In Barcelona, from where the plane took off Tuesday morning, police escorted people, some of them crying, through a terminal and took them to a secure part of the airport. They did not speak to the media, and one woman held a jacket over the head of a sobbing woman. 
 
 In Duesseldorf, the destination airport, family members arriving at the airport were taken from the main terminal to a nearby building. Airport employees partly covered the building with sheets to keep the relatives out of the eye of the public. 
 
 A total of 150 people were on board the plane when it crashed in the French Alps. No survivors are expected to be found. 
 
 ___ 
 
 2:50 p.m. (1350 GMT, 9:50 a.m. EDT) 
 
 German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she will head to the remote mountain in the French Alps where a Germanwings passenger plane crashed with 150 people aboard. 
 
 She says her thoughts are "with those people who so suddenly lost their lives, among them many compatriots." 
 
 Merkel says she will travel to the region on Wednesday, a day after her foreign and transport ministers were heading to the crash site. 
 
 She is urging people not to speculate on the cause of the crash until an investigation can be conducted. 
 
 No survivors are expected in the crash of the plane, which was traveling Tuesday morning from Barcelona, Spain, to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 ___ 
 
 2:05 p.m. (1305 GMT, 9:05 a.m. EDT) 
 
 The owner of a French Alpine camping ground says he heard a series of loud noises in the air before a Germanwings passenger plane carrying 150 people crashed to the ground. 
 
 Pierre Polizzi told The Associated Press the noise began at 11:30 a.m. 
 
 "There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside but I couldn't see any fighter planes." 
 
 "The noise I heard was long - like 8 seconds - as if the plane was going more slowly than a military plane speed. There was another long noise about 30 seconds later." 
 
 No survivors are expected in the crash of the plane that was traveling from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, Germany. 
 
 Polizzi said it would be difficult to get to the site of the crash. "The mountain is snowy and very hostile." 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:45 p.m. . (1245 GMT, 8:45 EDT) 
 
 Spanish King Felipe has canceled his state visit to France following the crash of a plane in the southern French Alps. 
 
 The plane was flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf in Germany, and Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told reporters in Seville that there were 45 people aboard the plane with Spanish last names but that authorities have not confirmed how many of them were Spanish. 
 
 Felipe met with French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday morning before ending his visit. 
 
 Airline Germanwings says there were 150 people on board the Airbus 320. Hollande has said no survivors are expected to be found. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:40 p.m. (1240 GMT, 8:40 a.m. EDT) 
 
 Airline Germanwings says there were 144 passengers and six crew aboard a plane that crashed in the French Alps. 
 
 Manager Oliver Wagner did not say whether there were any survivors and added it was not currently possible to give more information on how the crash occurred. "I promise that we will do everything to clear up the events thoroughly," he said. "We are endlessly sorry for what has happened." 
 
 Other officials have given slightly differing figures for the number on board. 
 
 The Airbus 320 crashed Tuesday morning during a flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, Germany. French President Francois Hollande has said no survivors are expected. 
 
 The Germanwings logo, normally maroon and yellow, was blacked out on its Twitter feed. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:25 p.m. (1225 GMT, 8:25 a.m. EDT) 
 
 The Airbus 320 plane that went down in the French Alps is a workhorse of modern aviation. Similar to the Boeing 737, the single-aisle, twin-engine jet is used to connect cities that are between one and five hours apart. Worldwide, 3,606 A320s are in operation, according to Airbus, which also makes the smaller but near-identical A318 and A319 and the stretched A321. An additional 2,486 of those jets are flying. 
 
 The Germanwings A320 crashed Tuesday crashed in the south of the Alps while flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf in Germany. No survivors are expected. 
 
 The A320 family has a good safety record, with just 0.14 fatal accidents per million takeoffs, according to a Boeing safety analysis. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:10 p.m. (1210 GMT, 8:10 a.m. EDT) 
 
 The CEO of Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, says he doesn't yet have any information about what happened to its flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf that French officials say has crashed in the Alps. 
 
 "My deepest sympathy is with all the relatives and friends of our passengers and crew on 4U 9525," Carsten Spohr was cited in a tweet by Lufthansa as saying. "If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Lufthansa. We hope to find survivors." 
 
 Antonio San Jose, spokesman for Spanish airport authority AENA, told the Onda Cero radio station that authorities do not yet know how many Spaniards were on the jet but that the authority's best information is that 147 people were aboard the plane. 
 
 "It would be a miracle if there were survivors but hopefully there will be. We do not know the causes, simply that it lost contact," San Jose said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1 p.m. (1200 GMT, 8 a.m. EDT) 
 
 French President Francois Hollande has spoken briefly with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to express solidarity following the crash of a Germanwings plane in southern France. 
 
 The German ambassador is leaving imminently with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve for the area of the crash. 
 
 The Airbus A320 crashed in the south of the Alps while flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf in Germany. Holland says no survivors are expected. 
 
 Spanish King Felipe and his wife are in France on a previously scheduled visit and are currently meeting Hollande. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:40 p.m. (1140 GMT, 7:40 a.m. EDT) 
 
 French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet says debris from the crash of an Airbus A320 has been located and the plane crashed at 2,000 meters altitude in the Alps. 
 
 Brandet told BFM television that he expected "an extremely long and extremely difficult" search and rescue operation because of the area's remoteness. 
 
 The airplane sent out a distress signal at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, Brandet said. 
 
 He said the passenger manifest is being verified. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:30 p.m. (1130 GMT, 7:30 a.m. EDT) 
 
 French President Francois Hollande says no survivors are likely in the Alpine crash of a passenger jet carrying 148 people. 
 
 The Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed Tuesday in the French Alps region as it traveled from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, French officials said. Eric Ciotti, the head of the regional council, said search-and-rescue teams were headed to the crash site at Meolans-Revels. 
 
 In a live briefing Tuesday, Hollande said the area of the crash was remote and it was not clear whether anyone on the ground had been hurt. Hollande said it was probable that a number of the victims are German. 
 
 "It's a tragedy on our soil," he said, adding he would be speaking shortly with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 
 
 The French newspaper La Provence, citing aviation officials, said the Airbus plane carried at least 142 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants. ||||| SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France (AP) — A black box recovered from the scene and pulverized pieces of debris strewn across Alpine mountainsides held clues to what caused a German jetliner to take an unexplained eight-minute dive Tuesday midway through a flight from Spain to Germany, apparently killing all 150 people on board. 
 
 Debris of the Germanwings passenger jet is scattered on the mountain side near Seyne les Alpes, French Alps, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger jet carrying at least 150 people crashed Tuesday... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rescue workers and gendarme gather in Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps, Tuesday, March 24, 2015, as search-and-rescue teams struggle to reach the remote crash site of Germanwings passenger plane. A Germanwings... (Associated Press) 
 
 Crying people arrive at Barcelona airport in Spain, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger jet carrying 150 people crashed in the French Alps region Tuesday as it traveled from Barcelona to... (Associated Press) 
 
 People comfort each other as they arrive at the Barcelona airport in Spain, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger jet carrying 150 people crashed in the French Alps region as it traveled from... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rescue workers and helicopter stand at La Seyne les Alpes, French Alps, Tuesday, March 24, 2015, as search-and-rescue teams struggle to reach the remote, snow-covered crash site of Germanwings passenger... (Associated Press) 
 
 A rescue helicopter takes off from La Seyne les Alpes, French Alps, Tuesday, March 24, 2015, as search-and-rescue teams struggle to reach the remote, snow-covered crash site of Germanwings passenger plane.... (Associated Press) 
 
 France's President Francois Hollande after giving a speech during a visit at the ìLigue Contre le Cancerî (League Against Cancer), in Paris, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A passenger jet carrying over 140... (Associated Press) 
 
 A man who appears to have waited for the missing flight 4U 9525 covers his face at the airport in Duesseldorf, Germany, Tuesday, March 24, 2015, after a Germanwings passenger jet carrying more 140 people... (Associated Press) 
 
 Two girls hug in front of the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium in Haltern, western Germany Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings plane from Barcelona crashed on its way to Duesseldorf over the French alps, 16... (Associated Press) 
 
 A family of people involved in a crashed plane arrives at the Barcelona airport in Spain, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger jet carrying more than 140 people crashed in the French Alps... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rescue workers and helicopters stand at Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps, Tuesday, March 24, 2015, as search-and-rescue teams struggle to reach the remote, snow-covered crash site of Germanwings passenger... (Associated Press) 
 
 An helicopter takes off at Seyne les Alpes, French Alps, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger jet carrying at least 150 people crashed Tuesday in a snowy, remote section of the French Alps,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Crying people arrive at Barcelona airport in Spain, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger jet carrying 150 people crashed Tuesday in the French Alps region as it traveled from Barcelona to... (Associated Press) 
 
 Crying people arrive at Barcelona airport in Spain, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger jet carrying 150 people crashed Tuesday in the French Alps region as it traveled from Barcelona to... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rescue workers prepare at Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps, Tuesday, March 24, 2015, as search-and-rescue teams struggle to reach the remote crash site of Germanwings passenger plane. A Germanwings passenger... (Associated Press) 
 
 A rope hangs from a rescue helicopter flying past debris of the Germanwings passenger jet, scattered on the mountainside, near Seyne les Alpes, French Alps, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger... (Associated Press) 
 
 The victims included two babies, two opera singers and 16 German high school students and their teachers returning from an exchange trip to Spain. It was the deadliest crash in France in decades. 
 
 The Airbus A320 operated by Germanwings, a budget subsidiary of Lufthansa, was less than an hour from landing in Duesseldorf on a flight from Barcelona when it unexpectedly went into a rapid descent. The pilots sent out no distress call and had lost radio contact with their control center, France's aviation authority said, deepening the mystery. 
 
 While investigators searched through debris from Flight 9525 on steep and desolate slopes, families across Europe reeled with shock and grief. Sobbing relatives at both airports were led away by airport workers and crisis counselors. 
 
 "The site is a picture of horror. The grief of the families and friends is immeasurable," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after being flown over the crash scene. "We must now stand together. We are united in our great grief." 
 
 It took investigators hours to reach the site, led by mountain guides to the craggy ravine in the southern French Alps, not far from the Italian border and the French Riviera. 
 
 Video shot from a helicopter and aired by BFM TV showed rescuers walking in the crevices of a rocky mountainside scattered with plane parts. Photos of the crash site showed white flecks of debris across a mountain and larger airplane body sections with windows. A helicopter crew that landed briefly in the area saw no signs of life, French officials said. 
 
 "Everything is pulverized. The largest pieces of debris are the size of a small car. No one can access the site from the ground," Gilbert Sauvan, president of the general council, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, told The Associated Press. 
 
 "This is pretty much the worst thing you can imagine," said Bodo Klimpel, mayor of the German town of Haltern, rent with sorrow after losing 16 tenth graders and their two teachers. 
 
 The White House and the airline chief said there was no sign that terrorism was involved, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged reporters not to speculate on the cause. 
 
 "We still don't know much beyond the bare information on the flight, and there should be no speculation on the cause of the crash," she said in Berlin. "All that will be investigated thoroughly." 
 
 Lufthansa Vice President Heike Birlenbach told reporters in Barcelona that for now "we say it is an accident." 
 
 In Washington, the White House said American officials were in contact with their French, Spanish and German counterparts. "There is no indication of a nexus to terrorism at this time," said U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. 
 
 Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy were to visit the site Wednesday. 
 
 French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a black box had been located at the crash site and "will be immediately investigated." He did not say whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder. 
 
 The two devices — actually orange boxes designed to survive extreme heat and pressure — should provide investigators with a second-by-second timeline of the plane's flight. 
 
 The voice recorder takes audio feeds from four microphones within the cockpit and records all the conversations between the pilots, air traffic controllers as well as any noises heard in the cockpit. The flight data recorder captures 25 hours' worth of information on the position and condition of almost every major part in a plane. 
 
 Germanwings is low-cost carrier owned by Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, and serves mostly European destinations. Tuesday's crash was its first involving passenger deaths since it began operating in 2002. The Germanwings logo, normally maroon and yellow, was blacked out on its Twitter feed. 
 
 Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr called it the "blackest day of our company's 60-year history." He insisted, however, that flying "remains after this terrible day the safest mode of transport." 
 
 Germanwings said 144 passengers and six crew members were on board. Authorities said 67 Germans were believed among the victims, including the 16 high school students and two opera singers, as well as many Spaniards, two Australians and one person each from the Netherlands, Turkey and Denmark. 
 
 Contralto Maria Radner was returning to Germany with her husband and baby after performing in Wagner's "Siegfried," according to Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu. Bass baritone Oleg Bryjak had appeared in the same opera, according to the opera house in Duesseldorf. 
 
 The plane left Barcelona Airport at 10:01 a.m. and had reached its cruising height of 38,000 feet when it suddenly went into an eight-minute descent to just over 6,000 feet, Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann told reporters in Cologne. 
 
 "We cannot say at the moment why our colleague went into the descent, and so quickly, and without previously consulting air traffic control," said Germanwings' director of flight operations, Stefan-Kenan Scheib. 
 
 At 10:30, the plane lost radio contact with the control center but "never declared a distress alert," Eric Heraud of the French Civil Aviation Authority told the AP. 
 
 The plane crashed at an altitude of about 6,550 feet (2,000 meters) at Meolans-Revels, near the popular ski resort of Pra Loup. The site is 430 miles (700 kilometers) south-southeast of Paris. 
 
 "It was a deafening noise. I thought it was an avalanche, although it sounded slightly different. It was short noise and lasted just a few seconds," Sandrine Boisse, the president of the Pra Loup tourism office, told the AP. 
 
 Authorities faced a long and difficult search-and-recovery operation because of the area's remoteness. The weather, which had been clear earlier in the day, deteriorated Tuesday afternoon, with a chilly rain falling. Snow coated nearby mountaintops. 
 
 French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the crash site covered several acres, with thousands of pieces of debris, "which leads us to think the impact must have been extremely violent at very high speed." 
 
 Search operations were suspended overnight and were to resume at daybreak, though about 10 gendarmes remained in the desolate ravine to guard the crash site, authorities said. 
 
 Winkelmann said the pilot, whom he did not name, had more than 10 years' experience working for Germanwings and its parent airline Lufthansa. 
 
 Florian Graenzdoerffer Lufthansa Spokesman for North Rhine Westphalia said the company had to cancel seven flights out of Dusseldorf because a number of crew members felt they were unfit to fly following news of the accident. 
 
 "I can't tell you any details because this is a personal decision and in our business we have an agreement if a crew feels unfit to fly ... then we respect this," Graenzdoerffer said. 
 
 The aircraft was delivered to Lufthansa in 1991, had approximately 58,300 flight hours in some 46,700 flights, Airbus said. The plane underwent a routine check in Duesseldorf on Monday, and its last regular full check took place in the summer of 2013. 
 
 The A320 plane is a workhorse of modern aviation, with a good safety record. 
 
 The last time a passenger jet crashed in France was the 2000 Concorde accident, which left 113 dead. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Charlton reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Lori Hinnant, Thomas Adamson and Elaine Ganley in Paris; Claude Paris in Seyne-les-Alpes; David McHugh in Frankfurt; Geir Moulson and David Rising in Berlin; Frank Augstein in Duesseldorf; Al Clendenning in Madrid; Joe Wilson in Barcelona; Kirsten Grieshaber in Haltern, Germany, and AP Airlines writer Scott Mayerowitz in New York contributed to this report.
– As authorities try to figure out why a Germanwings plane went down in the French Alps—there was no distress call before the pilot's eight-minute descent, reports the AP—details are emerging about some of the 150 people aboard who are now presumed dead. That includes 16 kids, all about age 15, who were returning to Germany from a weeklong exchange program in Spain, reports Reuters. They and their two teachers were from the small community of Haltern am See in western Germany, where, as the New York Times notes, many people either knew the victims or were related to them. “This is the darkest day in the history of our city," says Mayor Bodo Klimpel, who was fighting back tears at a news conference. "A feeling of shock can be felt everywhere. It is about the worst thing imaginable." The mayor of Llinars del Valles, where the teens stayed in Spain, says his "whole village is distraught" as well. "The families knew each other," he says. "The parents had been to see them off at 6 this morning." Also on board were two opera singers, Maria Radner and Oleg Bryjak, who were returning from a performance together. Radner was with her husband and baby, and another baby was reportedly killed in the crash.