All of those aboard a passenger flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf that crashed in the southern French Alps are thought to be deceased, according to French authorities.
“We must feel grief, because this is a tragedy that happened on our soil,” President François Hollande of France said.
The Airbus A320, operated by Germanwings, the budget arm of Lufthansa, crashed Tuesday morning carrying 144 passengers and six crew members.
The identities of the passengers and crew have not yet been confirmed, but Hollande said many of the victims are thought to be German.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the passengers and crew members,” Germanwings said in a statement.
The deaths of the crew members increase the number of crew deaths this year 33 percent on civil aircraft permitted to carry more than 14 people, according to Aviation Safety Network. Five other crashes in 2015 resulted in a total of 18 crew deaths.
By this time last year, 39 airplane crew members, including 12 on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 that disappeared March 8, 2014, had died in airplane crashes.
The crash occurred in a difficult to access area, which will make recovery efforts difficult. Hollande said that France will share of the information about the crash with German and Spanish authorities.
The last recorded position of the airplane, which departed Spain at 9 a.m. CET, was at 10:40 a.m. CET, according to Flightradar24.