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What We Know About The Germanwings Victims

by Melissah Yang

Recovery and search efforts of the downed Germanwings aircraft have entered Day Two, and more details about the passengers on board Flight 9525 have begun to surface. Foreign ministries and government officials began on Tuesday night to confirm the identities of nationals believed to have died in the Germanwings crash. Aboard the plane were nationals from a diverse group of countries, including Argentina, Australia, Venezuela and Iran, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, Mexico, Belgium and Colombia, Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann confirmed Wednesday morning.

Budget airline Germanwings, a wholly owned carrier under Lufthansa, said there were 144 passengers — including two infants — and six crew members on the plane that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday during a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, Germany. None of the passengers or crew members are expected to have survived, according to French authorities.

Germany was the country most affected, with 67 Germans on board the flight, airline officials said in their early statements. At the time, they also said that an additional 45 people had Spanish last names, two passengers were Australian, and at least one was Belgian. Since the initial reports, however, more countries have stepped forward to confirm the identities and nationalities of passengers, including some from Japan, Israel, and Argentina.

Eyal Baum, 39, Israel

Ynet reports that Israeli citizen Eyal Baum has been identified as a Germanwings passenger. Baum's family reportedly contacted Israel's Foreign Ministry to alert the government he was on board the flight. Baum lived in Barcelona and was apparently traveling to Dusseldorf on business.

Satoshi Nagata, 60s, and Junichi Sato, 42, Japan

Japan's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that two Japanese citizens were on the crashed flight. Satoshi Nagata and Junichi Sato both lived in Dusseldorf. Sato worked for Tokyo-based machinery trading firm Seika Corp., according to The Japan Times.

Carol Friday, 68, and Greg Friday, 29, Australia

Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop confirmed Wednesday that the two Australians were Carol Friday and her son Greg from Melbourne. Bishop read a statement from the Friday family to Parliament: "Our family is in deep disbelief and crippled with sadness."

Maria del Pilar Tejada and Luis Eduardo Medrano, Colombia

The Colombian foreign ministry said in a statement that Maria del Pilar Tejada and Luis Eduardo Medrano were killed in the plane crash. "The news was confirmed directly to the family of the victims," the statement said.

Sebastian Gabriel Greco and Gabriela Lujan Maues, 28, Argentina

In a statement, the Argentine embassy in France identified Sebastián Gabriel Greco and Gabriela Luján Maues as two Argentine citizens who died in the crash. Maues was the daughter of a firefighter in Pacheco, according to The Buenos Aires Herald. Greco was Maues' boyfriend.

Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio, 37, and son Julian, 7 months, Spain

A Manchester, England, resident believed to be from Spain, Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio was booked on the flight with her 7-month-old son Julian, according to The Telegraph. The young mother was returning from a trip to a family home in Jaca, Spain, where she attended an uncle's funeral. Lopez-Belio, who reportedly boarded the plane when she could not find a direct flight to Manchester, intended to change flights in Dusseldorf.

16 high school students and two teachers, Germany

Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images News/Getty Images

High school Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium in Haltern am See, Germany, said a group of 16 students and two teachers were traveling on board. The 10th graders were returning from an exchange trip to Barcelona, where they spent less than a week, Haltern am See Mayor Bodo Klimpe said in a press conference, according to the BBC. The group members' names have not been disclosed. A teacher from the Spanish school that hosted the visiting students identified one teacher as "Claudia," according to The Washington Post.

Maria Radner, 34, and Oleg Bryjak, 54, Germany

After giving multiple performances on stage in Barcelona, opera singers Maria Radner and Oleg Bryjak boarded the flight to Dusseldorf. Rander and Bryjak were two of the first victims confirmed as passengers on the plane. The Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, where they both performed in Richard Wagner's Siegfried, confirmed that Radner was traveling her husband and child. A Dusseldorf opera house said Tuesday Bryjak was on board the plane when it crashed.

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