BARCELONA, Spain, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The president of the regional government of Spain's Catalonia said on Tuesday the government will provide support to the families of plane crash victims.
The Airbus A320 operated by Lufthansa's budget airline Germanwings crashed in the southern French Alps while flying from Spain's Barcelona to Germany's Duesseldorf. 150 people were killed in the accident.
"We have to be close to the people when they need us the most," Artur Mas said, adding that the government will help families to go to the area of the accident and will provide psychological support to them.
Mas told reporters there is no concrete information and asked for calm when it comes to the list of passengers. "We need to take into account that we must respect families and people directly affected," he said. "We have to speak with the families first," he said.
Mas explained that the vice-president of the Catalan government Joana Ortega was on her way to France while he would stay in Barcelona to coordinate with the Spanish government.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the news about the plane crash in France was "dramatic and sad news with enormous human loss".
Rajoy, who was in the Basque region, canceled his agenda and returned to Madrid. Spanish King Felipe VI, who was in Paris on state visit, has also canceled his visit.
Families are arriving at Barcelona's airport where Spain's airport operator AENA has set up a place in terminal 2 to assist them.
Ambulances and medical assistance from the Red Cross arrived in the airport to assist the families, who were escorted by Catalan police in order to avoid pressure from the media.
