Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/484780
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 MARCH 2015 3 News No survivors in Germanwings A320 crash in French Alps A Germanwings Airbus A320 plane carrying at least 150 people crashed yesterday, in a mountain- ous area of southeastern France. Those aboard flight 4U 9525, flying from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany – 144 pas- sengers and six crew members – are dead. Although the passenger list is not yet official, 45 of the passen- gers are believed to be Spaniards, 67 are thought to be German nationals. Reports said that a group of 16 German teenagers returning from an exchange trip to Spain were booked on the flight, but school officials could not con- firm whether the students had boarded the aircraft. A "black box" flight recorder was found at the site of the plane crash, as rescue teams reached the remote Alpine location of the disaster yesterday. There was no immediate clue as to the cause of the crash, which happened in calm weather conditions. Aviation experts were puz- zled as to why the crew report- edly failed to raise the alarm as the plane dropped from the sky and changed trajectory to avoid smashing into the mountain. The Maltese parliament yester- day afternoon paid a minute of silence in solidarity with the vic- tims of the plane crash and their relatives. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat informed parliament that, so far, information coming in through the Maltese embassy in Spain showed that there were no Maltese nationals on board the plane. The low-cost Germanwings car- rier is a Lufthansa subsidiary. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed deep shock at the tragedy, adding that she was planning to travel to the site of the crash. One witness, Sebastien Giroux, said he saw the plane f lying very low in the southern Alps near Digne-les-Bains, near where it crashed. "There was no smoke or particular sound or sign of any- thing wrong, but at the altitude it was f lying it was clearly not going to make it over the mountains," he told BFM-TV. "I didn't see any- thing wrong with the plane, but it was too low." A rescue helicopter managed to reach the site in a remote moun- tainous region. Local council official Gilbert Sauvan told Les Echos newspaper that the crash was so extreme that the plane had "disintegrated", adding that "the largest piece of debris is the size of a car." Early yesterday morning, French President Francois Hollande said no survivors were expected. The plane crashed near Digne les Bains, in the Alpes de Haute Pro- vence region. "The conditions of the accident are not yet clear but lead us to be- lieve there will be no survivors," Hollande said. "We are trying to understand all the elements that cause this, and we will give them to all relevant officials, Spanish and German... it is a great loss that we have to bear, that has occurred on our soil," the French President said. The French aviation regulatory authority (DGAC) said the air- craft did not issue a distress call, as initially reported, but that its sudden drop in altitude had led air traffic controllers to imple- ment the "distress phase". This is the third and most serious of three alerts used to help iden- tify and coordinate rescue efforts when a plane is thought to be in difficulty. Germanwings managing direc- tor Thomas Winkelmann told reporters that the plane began de- scending one minute after reach- ing its cruising height and that it continued to lose altitude for eight minutes. Winkelmann added that the air- craft had lost contact with French air traffic controllers at around 10:53am at an altitude of around 6,000 feet, but it is yet unclear whether the plane had sent a dis- tress signal prior to the crash. The crash occurred in moun- tainous terrain near the village Prads-Haute-Bléone, French po- lice Capt. Benoit Zeisser said. Because of the terrain, it will be a difficult site for rescuers to access, Zeisser said. A police helicopter is in the area, he said. Hundreds of gendarmes, fire- fighters and emergency search and rescue teams, as well as 10 helicopters and a military aircraft, were dispatched to the crash site to search for survivors. The crash zone is isolated, extremely diffi- cult to reach and completely inac- cessible to vehicles. The twin-engine Airbus A320, which entered service in 1988, is generally considered among the most reliable aircraft and it is widely used by various airlines, including Air Malta, Air France and British Airways among oth- ers. Crashes mid-f light are rare, as most happen near take-off or landing. MIRIAM DALLI THE interconnector is set to be- come fully operational by the end of April, two months ahead of the scheduled deadline, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told parliament. The interconnector, connecting Malta to Sicily and joining Malta to the European grid, comprises a 120-kilometre high voltage alternat- ing current (HVAC) system capable of bidirectional flow of electrical power, transferring 200MW of elec- tricity. In Sicily, the interconnector is linked to the Italian network at 230kV in the Terna substation in Ragusa. The submarine cable lands in Malta at Qalet Marku, Bahar ic- Caghaq, and transmits electricity to the distribution network at 132kV through Enemalta's new terminal station at Maghtab. Speaking in parliament on the En- ergy Union, Muscat was asked by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to confirm whether Enemalta had encountered technical difficulties while attempting to switch on the interconnector. "Tests are still being carried out on the interconnector to ensure that any technical difficulties are elimi- nated," Muscat said, adding that Enemalta technicians were working on synchronisation tests between Malta and Sicily. Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi confirmed that the interconnector was in the switching on phase but warned that Malta could not depend entirely on the interconnector. In a parting shot for Simon Bu- suttil, Muscat said the PN leader – while reminding the government that it had missed the new gas power plant deadline by some 15 months – said nothing about the interconnec- tor works that fell two years behind under the PN administration. The Energy Union, a card on the EU's table for years, is being deemed a priority by the Juncker Commis- sion. Last week in Brussels, the EU leaders called for accelerating infra- structure projects, including inter- connections in particular to periph- eral regions, for electricity and gas to ensure energy security in a well- functioning internal energy market. Malta is however pushing for a phasing in of the Energy Union, starting off with regional collabora- tion. Together with Slovakia and the Netherlands, Malta will be working on and presenting a package of leg- islation during Malta's Presidency of the EU in 2017. Interconnector set to become fully operational by end of April, two months ahead of deadline Low-cost carrier Germanwings airliner crashes in French Alps with 144 passengers and six crew members on board Aviation experts were puzzled as to why the crew reportedly failed to raise the alarm as the plane dropped from the sky and changed trajectory