FRANCE (AP)– The owner of a French Alpine camping ground says he heard a series of loud noises in the air before a Germanwings passenger plane carrying 150 people crashed to the ground.CLICK HERE FOR SLIDESHOW

Pierre Polizzi told The Associated Press the noise began at 11:30 a.m.

“There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside but I couldn’t see any fighter planes.”

“The noise I heard was long – like 8 seconds – as if the plane was going more slowly than a military plane speed. There was another long noise about 30 seconds later.”

No survivors are expected in the crash of the plane that was traveling from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, Germany.

Polizzi said it would be difficult to get to the site of the crash. “The mountain is snowy and very hostile.”

Spanish King Felipe has canceled his state visit to France following the crash of a plane in the southern French Alps.

The plane was flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf in Germany, and Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told reporters in Seville that there were 45 people aboard the plane with Spanish last names but that authorities have not confirmed how many of them were Spanish.

Felipe met with French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday morning before ending his visit.

Airline Germanwings says there were 150 people on board the Airbus 320. Hollande has said no survivors are expected to be found.

Airline Germanwings says there were 144 passengers and six crew aboard a plane that crashed in the French Alps.

Manager Oliver Wagner did not say whether there were any survivors and added it was not currently possible to give more information on how the crash occurred. “I promise that we will do everything to clear up the events thoroughly,” he said. “We are endlessly sorry for what has happened.”

Other officials have given slightly differing figures for the number on board.

The Airbus 320 crashed Tuesday morning during a flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, Germany. French President Francois Hollande has said no survivors are expected.

The Germanwings logo, normally maroon and yellow, was blacked out on its Twitter feed.

The Airbus 320 plane that went down in the French Alps is a workhorse of modern aviation. Similar to the Boeing 737, the single-aisle, twin-engine jet is used to connect cities that are between one and five hours apart. Worldwide, 3,606 A320s are in operation, according to Airbus, which also makes the smaller but near-identical A318 and A319 and the stretched A321. An additional 2,486 of those jets are flying.

The Germanwings A320 crashed Tuesday crashed in the south of the Alps while flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf in Germany. No survivors are expected.

The A320 family has a good safety record, with just 0.14 fatal accidents per million takeoffs, according to a Boeing safety analysis.

The CEO of Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, says he doesn’t yet have any information about what happened to its flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf that French officials say has crashed in the Alps.

“My deepest sympathy is with all the relatives and friends of our passengers and crew on 4U 9525,” Carsten Spohr was cited in a tweet by Lufthansa as saying. “If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Lufthansa. We hope to find survivors.”

Antonio San Jose, spokesman for Spanish airport authority AENA, told the Onda Cero radio station that authorities do not yet know how many Spaniards were on the jet but that the authority’s best information is that 147 people were aboard the plane.

“It would be a miracle if there were survivors but hopefully there will be. We do not know the causes, simply that it lost contact,” San Jose said.

French President Francois Hollande has spoken briefly with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to express solidarity following the crash of a Germanwings plane in southern France.

The German ambassador is leaving imminently with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve for the area of the crash.

The Airbus A320 crashed in the south of the Alps while flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf in Germany. Holland says no survivors are expected.