Mother And Son Among Germanwings Victims

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A mother and son from Australia were among the 150 victims of the Germanwings air crash in the French Alps.

The family of Carol and Greig Friday, who had been on holiday together, said they are "crippled with sadness" at their loss.

They said 68-year-old Carol was a loving mother-of-two and Greig, 28, was an exceptional brother. A statement issued on behalf of the family said: "Our family is in deep disbelief and crippled with sadness and would like to ask for privacy.

"They were both extraordinary and exceptional people who were loved by many, who they loved in return. They will forever be with us in our hearts, memories and dreams."

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said at least three Britons were on board the downed Airbus A320, which had been travelling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.

One of the British victims is father of two Martyn Matthews, 50, from Wolverhampton who had been on business in Barcelona and was on his way to a meeting in Germany.

He leaves behind his wife Sharon and children Jade, 20, and Nathan, 23.

Marina Bandres, who came from Jaca in the Spanish Pyrenees and lived in Manchester, was travelling on the plane with her baby.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that there are further British people involved," said Mr Hammond. "The level of information on the flight manifest does not allow us to rule out that possibility until we have completed some further checks."

Passengers on flight 4U 9525 also included 16 pupils and two teachers from a school in Haltern am See in western Germany that had been returning from a week-long exchange at a school near Barcelona.

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Gallery: Alps Plane Crash: The Victims

Marina Bandres, who came from Jaca in the Spanish Pyrenees and lived in Manchester, was travelling on the plane with her baby

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Eyal Baum, 39, was an Israeli citizen living in Barcelona with his wife. He was among 150 people killed when a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps

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Opera singer Oleg Bryjak. He was travelling with his wife Maria Radner and their baby. Pic: Liceu Barcelona Opera House

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Opera singer Maria Radner and her husband had been in Spain for a performance. Pic: Liceu Barcelona Opera House

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At a news conference the school's headteacher Ulrich Wesse said: "We sent them on a journey on what we thought would be a happy occasion, on an exchange with the school who we have exchanged with for several years.

"When we first got the call we were still hopeful, thinking that perhaps they had missed the flight there were two different flights leaving Barcelona.

"At school at the moment is the husband of one of the young colleagues who has died. They have been married for less than half a year, and I'm speechless faced with this tragedy.

"I have not quite internalised yet the gravity of what has happened and a lot of the students here will still be deeply in shock and will not quite have processed yet what happened to their friends."

Other passengers from Germany included two opera singers. Contralto Maria Radner was returning home with her husband and baby after performing in Wagner's 'Siegfried' according to Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu.

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Gallery: Europe Mourns Alps Crash Victims

Germanwings employees gather outside the company headquarters to observe a minute of silence in Cologne Bonn airport

Germanwings employees place light candles

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Bass baritone Oleg Bryjak had appeared in the same opera, according to the opera house in Dusseldorf.

An Israeli citizen resident in Spain has also been confirmed among the dead. Eyal Baum,39, lived in Barcelona with his wife, according to his sister, Liat Baum.

"He was amazing, with a winning smile. Whoever met him fell in love with him from the first moment," a tearful Baum told Israel's Army Radio. "The thought of what he went through in those moments is very difficult."

A total of 67 Germans were among the victims, and Spanish authorities are still trying to determine how many of their citizens were on board.

There were also passengers on board from the Netherlands, Turkey, Denmark and Kazakhstan.

The Mexican government said there were indications that one Mexican national was also among the victims and two Japanese citizens were also believed to have been on the plane.

Two Colombians on the flight have been named as Maria del Pilar Tejada and Luis Eduardo Medrano.

Japan's Foreign Ministry has confirmed two Japanese men were on board. Satoshi Nagata, in his 60s, and Junichi Sato, 42. Both were both living in Dusseldorf.

Search teams have confirmed there are no survivors from the flight which went into an eight-minute descent before it crashed into a mountainside near Digne.

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