A plane carrying 150 people, including a group of schoolchildren, has crashed in the French Alps.<br /><br /> These pictures show the wreckage of the Airbus A320 jet, operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline. <br /><br /> Investigators are describing a scene of devastation.<br /><br /> One official, who has flown above the mountainous crash site in a helicopter, said the Airbus had “literally been ripped apart.”<br /><br /> Flight 4U 9525 was en-route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf when it crashed in Meolans-Revel, a remote and sparsely populated area, around 100 kilometres north of Nice. <br /><br /> According to Germanwings, the jet started plummeting shortly after reaching its cruising height. <br /><br /> It descended for around eight minutes, before losing contact with air traffic control at around six-thousand feet. The pilots did not issue a distress call. <br /><br /> The airline believes there were 67 Germans onboard the flight.<br /><br /> Sixteen children and two teachers – returning from an exchange trip – are said to be among them. <br /><br /> Spain’s
