Budget airline Germanwings says there were at least 72 Germans on its plane that crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people aboard.
Company executive Thomas Winkelmann estimates there had been 35 Spanish victims, a figure far lower than the 49 cited by the Spanish government.
Winkelmann says that Germanwings was still working on establishing the nationalities of all the victims, a task complicated by the fact that some passengers had dual nationality.
As of 1000 GMT Wednesday, the airline had counted two victims each from Australia, Argentina, Iran, Venezuela and the United States.
Helicopters of the French Air Force (back) and civil security services are seen in Seyne, south-eastern France, on March 24, 2015, near the site where a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps. (photo credit: AFP PHOTO / ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT
Britain, the Netherlands, Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Denmark, Belgium and Israel each lost at least one of their nationals, Winkelmann said.
The airline says it had established contact with the families of 123 victims and offered grief counseling to them, and was working with the German foreign ministry to reach the last 27.
“Taking care of the victims’ loved ones is our top priority,” Winkelmann tells reporters.
– AFP
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