A Germanwings Airbus A320 plane has crashed in the French Alps near Digne with 150 people on board – 144 passengers and six crew.
Our picture timeline talks you through how the disaster has unfolded over the course of the day.
All times in GMT.
10.28am: The Germanwings flight disappears from radar over the French Alps
10.45am: Reports come in of the aircraft having crashed near Barcelonnette in the South of France
11.18am: French President Francois Hollande says there are ‘no survivors’ onboard
11.30am: Shares in both Airbus and Lufthansa fall sharply after the crash
11.50am: Germanwings and parent company Lufthansa change their Twitter logos to monochrome
12.05pm: Data emerges showing the flight dropped over 30,000 feet in just ten minutes
12.30pm: Experts say they can’t rule out weather as the cause of the crash
1.00pm: The first pictures from the area where the plane is believed to have crashed emerge
1.43pm: Families begin to gather at Barcelona and Dusseldorf airports, where the plane’s departure and arrival points were
2.05pm: A 3D map emerges showing the plane’s rapid descent into the French Alps.
2.10pm: Rescue teams gather near Barcelonnette, the closest town to where the crash site was recorded.
2.35pm: Reports start to come through of 16 school children on the flight who were taking part in an exchange programme in Spain
3.30pm: The first images of the plane smashed on the slopes of a mountain surface as rescue teams close in on the scene.
4.50pm: The plane’s black box is found amongst the wreckage and first images from the crash site on the ground emerge.
Wednesday March 25, 10.10am: Foreign Secretary confirms that three Britons have died as investigators restart the search at the crash site of the doomed airliner. One of the victims is believed to have been a Manchester mother travelling with her 7-month-old baby.
