Germanwings crash site lies in remote and mountainous area of Alps

Germanwings flight GWI9525, which suffered an accident on Tuesday morning while flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, has crashed in one of the most remote and inaccessible areas in France. “We are talking about the middle of the Alps, it’s an area that’s very difficult to access,” explained Gilles Gravier, the head of the tourist office at Val d’Allos, which is located near to the crash site.

The area has hardly any villages or roads, and the mountain tops reach as high as 3,000 meters. At the time of the crash, the plane was thought to have been flying at an altitude of 1,800 meters.

According to information from the town hall of Haute-Bléone, located near the site of the disaster, the Airbus crashed into the Estrop mountain, which is 2,981 meters high. The deputy mayor of the area, Alain Liardet, explained to EL PAÍS via telephone that “the problem lies with the fact that the emergency services will only be able to get there by helicopter.” Liardet also explained that a group of 10 mountain gendarmes is attempting to reach the crash site, which is covered in deep snow.

The group of gendarmes left from the municipality of Méolans-Revel, which is just as remote as the aforementioned village. “We believe that the accident has happened right between two villages,” explained Alain Liardet.