Families and German town mark the 10th anniversary of the Germanwings crash in the French Alps

HALTERN AM SEE, Germany (AP) — Victims' relatives traveled to the scene in the French Alps of the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 10 years ago Monday, while hundreds of people gathered in silence to mark the anniversary in a German town that was home to an 18-member school group on board the doomed plane.

The plane took off from Barcelona, Spain on the morning of March 24, 2015, and was supposed to land in Duesseldorf, Germany. But it never arrived because, investigators said, the plane was deliberately downed by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. All 150 people on board were killed.

The victims included a group of 16 students and two teachers from a high school in the western German town of Haltern am See who were flying home from an exchange trip to Spain.

Also killed were two babies, a pair of acclaimed German opera singers and a member of an Argentine rock band, three generations of the same family, a vacationing mother and son, a recently married couple, people on business trips and others going home. Most came from Germany and Spain, though the victims came from 17 different countries in total.

Many victims' families traveled to the crash site in southeastern France. In the nearby village of Le Vernet, local officials and Carsten Spohr, the chief executive of Germanwings parent Lufthansa, laid flowers.

In Haltern, students laid roses in the yard of the Joseph König high school, and hundreds of people who gathered in the rain in front of a plaque with the victims' names fell silent at 10:41 a.m., the moment of the crash.

The school's principal, Christian Krahl, said it remains important to remember the tragedy even though today's students didn't experience it, German news agency dpa reported. “We want to be close to those who are infinitely sad to this day,” he said.

Wreaths were laid at the town cemetery, where there is a memorial in the form of a schoolroom and some of the students are buried.

Commemorations were also planned at the airports in Duesseldorf and Barcelona. At Duesseldorf Airport, a book of condolences was available in the so-called Room of Silence for employees and travelers.

The crash caused shock and disbelief when investigators revealed that co-pilot Lubitz locked the flight’s captain out of the cockpit to deliberately set the plane on a collision course with a mountainside.

Lubitz had in the past suffered from depression, but authorities and his airline later deemed him fit to fly. In the months ahead of the crash, Lubitz suffered from sleeplessness and feared losing his vision, but he hid that from his employer.

“This state of shock, the deeply felt sympathy of all the residents for the families and the question of why this happened are still with us today,” Haltern Mayor Andreas Stegemann told dpa.

“The Germanwings crash is a permanent part of our town’s history,” he said.

The site of the crash in France is now marked by a 5-meter (16-foot) “Solar Orb,” meant to represent the sun and the five continents. The memorial, made up of 149 gilded aluminum plates — marking all those on board except the co-pilot — was erected in 2017.

Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalist Laurent Cipriani in Le Vernet, France contributed to this report.

A man stands near the Germanwings plane crash site, just 10 years after the crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in the French Alps, near Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

View of the Germanwings plane crash site, just 10 years after the crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in the French Alps, near Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

View of the Germanwings plane crash site, just 10 years after the crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in the French Alps, near Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

A man stands near the Germanwings plane crash site, just 10 years after the crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in the French Alps, near Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

View of the Germanwings plane crash site, just 10 years after the crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in the French Alps, near Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Relatives of the Germanwings plane crash victims gather just 10 years after the crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in the French Alps, near Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

A woman lays a rose during a memorial ceremony in the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr pays his respects at Le Vernet cemetery, during a memorial ceremony marking 10 years after the Germanwings plane crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, center, attends a memorial ceremony marking 10 years after the Germanwings plane crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Candles burn at the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Candles burn at the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A woman looks at candles at the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr lays flowers at the cemetery of Le Vernet, during a memorial ceremony marking 10 years after the Germanwings plane crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

People standing in the rain during a memorial ceremony at the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Flowers with ribbons under the French and German flags are seen at the cemetery in Le Vernet during a memorial ceremony, 10 years after the Germanwings plane crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Local authorities lay flowers at the cemetery during a memorial ceremony, 10 years after the Germanwings plane crash, Monday, March 24, 2025 in Le Vernet, southern France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Class representatives lay roses during a memorial ceremony in the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

The headmaster speaks to students during a memorial ceremony in the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A woman waits under an umbrella to lay a rose during a memorial ceremony in the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A woman looks at candles at the schoolyard of the Joseph-Koenig high school in Haltern, Germany, ten years after 16 pupils and two teachers of the school died in the Germanwings crash in the French Alps, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

FILE - Rescue workers work at the crash site after a Germanwings plane crashed over the French Alps near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, Monday, March 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, Pool, File)

FILE - A school girl lights a candle in front of the Joseph-Koenig Gymnasium in Haltern, western Germany, March 24, 2015, after a Germanwings plane from Barcelona crashed on its way to Duesseldorf over the French alps. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

FILE - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, French President Francois Hollande, right, and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pay respect to the victims in front of the mountain where a Germanwings jetliner crashed on Tuesday, in Le Vernet, France, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Pool, File)

FILE - A convoy of hearses drive along the highway in Duisburg, Germany, June 10, 2015, taking home 16 school children who died in the Germanwings plane crash over the French Alps. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, file)

FILE - This photo provided by the French Interior Ministry shows French emergency rescue services work among the debris of the Germanwings passenger jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, April 3, 2015. (Yves Malenfer/Ministere de l'Interieur via AP, File)

FILE - This photo provided by the French Interior Ministry shows French emergency rescue services work among the debris of the Germanwings passenger jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, March 31, 2015. (Yves Malenfer/Ministere de l'Interieur via AP, File)

FILE - Friends of the German students from the crashed plane attend a mass in Llinars del Valles, near Barcelona, Spain, March 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

FILE - A student who knew some of the German students involved in a crashed plane, reacts during a minute of silence in front of the council building in Llinars del Valles, near Barcelona, Spain, March 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

FILE - A man pays his respect to the Germanwings victims in Le Vernet, in the French Alps, Sept. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)

FILE - In this photo taken on March 31, 2015 and provided by the French Interior Ministry, French emergency rescue services work among the debris of the Germanwings passenger jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France. (Yves Malenfer/Ministere de l'Interieur, File)

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