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Feature: Germany in deep sorrow over Germanwings air crash

Xinhua, March 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Parents of 16 teenager students in Joseph-Koenig High School in Haltern am See, Germany should have welcomed their beloved children back home from their exchange study in Spain on Tuesday.

What they received, however, was a deep grief to hear that the flight the students took crashed in southern French Alps with 150 people on board.

"This is the darkest day in the history of our city," said Bodo Klimpel, the mayor of Haltern am See, a town some 80 kilometers to the north of Duesseldorf where the Germanwings flight 4U9525 was scheduled to arrive from Barcelona in Spain.

The school was closed after the tragic news arrived, but many students came back with flowers and candles to mourn for their peers.

Flowers were also left in Duesseldorf airport, so do notes with encouraging information.

"Dear parents, brothers, friends and lovers: Be strong, Duesseldorf, the world and I grieve together with you. You are not alone," read one note.

"For families of the victims, today is a dark day. We cannot image their grief," said the airport spokesman Thomas Koetter, "What we can do is to provide them a quiet private space and professional assistance."

Family members of the passengers were protected from media and stayed in a VIP lounge in the airport where they could receive professional psychological assistance.

Hotlines were also set up in Germanwings and the airport for care and consulting. Website of the airline was in black and white.

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Duesseldorf is the capital city, has decided to flow flags in government departments at half-mast on Wednesday and Thursday.

"We expressed our deep concern over this terrible misfortune," said the state's Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger, "Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims."

Earlier on Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had expressed her deep shock and sorrow over the tragedy, as well as sympathy to families of the victims.

She planned to travel to the crash site in southern France on Wednesday, and said her country would work together with France and Spain to find out the causes of the crash.

German President Joachim Gauck, who was visiting South America, also decided to cut his visit and come back home early.

"My thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims," he said, "May they find in this difficult time strength and comfort." Endit