Airbus 320 crashes in France, no Chinese

Thomas Winkelman, general manager of the German wing, said 24th that the company had no Chinese citizens on the plane that crashed in France on the day, according to the information currently known.

Speaking at a news conference in Cologne, Germany, Winckelmann said the crashed aircraft contained 144 passengers and 6 crew members, including two infants and 16 students. There are 67 citizens of German nationality on the machine.

In response to a question from Xinhua, Winckelmann said that, according to the information currently known, there were no Chinese nationals on the plane. Press call the German Foreign Ministry information Office, the news officer said that there is no such information. The final passenger list must be confirmed by the German Foreign Ministry.

Zhou Anping, director of the consular Department of the Chinese Embassy in Germany, said that the embassy and the Dusseldorf Consulate General had set up an emergency team and had asked the Lufthansa and the German wing Airlines for a passenger list to further verify the presence of Chinese on board.

Winckelmann said at a news conference that the plane crashed 10:01 from Barcelona, Spain, was scheduled to be 11:35 in the German Dusseldorf landing. The plane reached 38000 feet (about 11582 meters) at 10:45, the last time before the crash was 10:53 in French radar, about 6000 feet (about 1829 meters) high. The descent process lasted 8 minutes before the plane crashed.

Winckelmann said the cause of the crash is still unclear. The aircraft's last major overhaul was scheduled for the summer of 2013, and the captain has served in 10 with the Lufthansa Group and the German wing company, with over 6,000 hours of flight experience. The Lufthansa Group will conduct an investigation and follow up with the Airbus Group.

After the crash, German President Kegong in a statement on the presidential website, expressing alarm at the plane crash and expressing condolences to the families of the victims. German media reported that the visit to South America on the day of the Kegong interrupted visit home.

16 students and two teachers in the West German city of Halten were also on the plane, a German radio reported. The 10-year students arrived in Barcelona for a one-week exchange and returned to Germany 24th.

On the morning of 24th local time, an Airbus A320 airliner flying from Barcelona, Spain, to the western German city of Dusseldorf crashed in southern France. The French have found the wreckage of the aircraft in the Barcelonnette area of Alpes De Haute Provence, Dep. De L', but no survivors have been found. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had canceled all other arrangements and would go to the crash site on 25th.

The German wing is a low-cost airline owned by Lufthansa, headquartered in Cologne.