Live: Plane crash in France kills 150, no Chinese aboard

An Airbus A320 plane operated by Germanwings crashed on Tuesday in southeastern France near Digne les Bains with 150 on board.

China Daily Website delivers the latest updates on the tragedy.

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Highlights:

** 150 people, including six crew members, on board

** 67 Germans on plane, 45 likely Spanish, 16 children

** No Chinese passengers on board

** French PM: no survivors found

** A black box has been found

02:52 Obama offers condolences

Obama Speaking before a joint press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the White House, President Obama said "our thoughts and our prayers are with our friends in Europe".

"It's particularly heartbreaking because it apparently includes the loss of so many children, some of them infants," he said.

American officials are working to confirm how many US citizens may have been on board, he added.

01:36 'Flight recorder transferred'
According to Le Monde, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said the flight recorder will be looked at immediately and has been transferred to the Office of Investigations and Analysis, which describes itself on its website as "the French authority responsible for safety investigations into accidents or incidents in civil aviation".

00:50 Flight recorder 'located'
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a flight recorder has been located at the site in the French Alps where the plane crashed, Associated Press reports.

A French rescue helicopter from the French Gendarmerie hovers above a field where Alpine rescue forces gather in front of the French Alps during a rescue operation next to the crash site of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes, March 24, 2015.[Photo/Reuters]

00:02 'Mechanical failure likely behind the crash'
The BBC's Transport Correspondent Richard Westcott says it seems most likely mechanical failure was behind the crash.

Dr Paul Williams, atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading, says it is unlikely weather conditions will have played a part in the crash, based on the information currently available. He said there was "some light clear air turbulence forecast" on the flight route but "nothing out of the ordinary... nothing that a modern airliner couldn't normally cope with", the BBC reported.