Germanwings Recovery Efforts Have Begun

Should there be no survivors, Tuesday's Germanwings crash would be the worst aviation disaster in France in 34 years. The wreckage of Flight 4U 9525 has been difficult to access as the crash site is located in a hard-to-reach area in Southern France, but images and video footage have emerged of the Germanwings recovery efforts near the French Alps showing emergency services preparing to reach the area.

A low-cost airline, the Germanwings plane with 150 people crashed in France as it made its way from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. Though the time of the crash could not be determined, The New York Times reported that the flight lost radio signal 40 minutes after takeoff.

Aboard the flight were 144 passengers — consisting mostly of Germans, though King Felipe VI of Spain said that there were Turkish and Spanish citizens on the plane, too — and six German crew members. Tragically, there aren't likely to be any survivors. French President Francois Hollande said in a statement following the crash:

The conditions of the accident, which have not yet been clarified, lead us to think there are no survivors.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who her spokesperson said was "deeply shocked" over the incident, has cancelled all her appointments and has been in touch with Hollande and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Germanwings is a relatively young airline with a clean safety record, although its parent company, Lufthansa, has been around since the 1920s.

Image: Getty Images (8)