News

Where Were The Germanwings Passengers From?

by Jenny Hollander

On Tuesday morning, a Germanwings flight heading to Germany from Spain crashed in the French Alps, having sent out a distress signal and rapidly descended shortly before the crash. In a press conference, French president François Hollande said that he expected there to be no survivors; 144 passengers and 6 crew members were reportedly aboard the flight. Other European countries swiftly reached out to offer their sympathies to Germany, to France, and to Spain. The precise nationalities of the passengers aboard the Germanwings flight is unclear, but most passengers appear to have been German.

In the press conference, Hollande said: "There were German and Turkish victims. There should be no French victims but I am not completely certain." Most passengers are thought to have been Germans returning from vacation — Germanwings flies to over 80 destinations from Germany and back again — but there were also scores of Spanish passengers above the flight. The deputy prime minister of Spain, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, said publicly she believed there to be 45 Spanish passengers aboard, given their surnames, and Barcelona has put aside a room specifically for family members.

Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told The New York Times that he could not comment on German citizens on the aircraft. "In these difficult hours, our thoughts are with all those who must fear that they have relatives among the passengers or crew," he said.