Alps air crash 'killed three Britons'
UK (BBN)-At least three Britons died in the Alps air crash that killed 150 people, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says.
The Airbus A320 crashed on Tuesday after an eight-minute rapid descent. There were no survivors, reports BBC.
Mr Hammond added: “We cannot rule out the possibility” that other British people were involved in the crash.
One UK resident, Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio from Manchester, was previously reported to have been on the flight with her baby son Julian.
Families of those from the UK known to have been killed have been contacted, said Mr Hammond.
Mr Hammond said: “We currently believe that three British people have been killed in this tragedy, but we cannot rule out the possibility that there are further British people involved.
“The level of information on the flight manifest doesn’t allow us to rule out that possibility until we’ve completed some further checks.
“We’re also in contact with the French, German and Spanish authorities, and once we have a clearer picture, we’ll make a further announcement”
Officials say that the plane’s cockpit voice recorder has arrived in Paris for investigators to examine it.
The ‘black box’ is believed to be damaged but officials still hope to retrieve data from it.
Officials believe 67 of the 144 passengers on the plane were German citizens, including 16 pupils returning from an exchange trip.
More than 40 passengers were believed to be Spanish and the flight was also carrying citizens of Australia, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium.
BBN/SK/AD-25Mar15-4:50pm (BST)