World and European churches mourn Germanwings air crash tragedy

(PHOTO: REUTERS/ROB GRIFFITH/POOL)The shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion maritime search aircraft can be seen on low-level clouds as it flies over the southern Indian Ocean looking for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 March 31, 2014.

The World Council of Churches and its European counterpart are grieving the loss of lives in a serious plane accident in the French Alps with a call for support for family members and those in the rescue team.

Germanwings flight 4U 9525 crashed in mountainous southern France flying to Düsseldorf from Barcelona on March 24, killing all 150 people aboard. Most of the passengers were German and Spanish nationals.

"The World Council of Churches joins the Conference of European Churches Governing Board's word of sympathy and mourning," said the general secretary of the Geneva-based WCC, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit.

He stated, "We call for prayer for all the victims and their families in this tragedy. Let us also remember the team working with the victims and support their families these days."

The passengers who the flight were a mixture of tourists, business travellers and families, The Telegraph newspaper reported.

There were also 16 German schoolchildren returning home from a Spanish exchange trip who had mislaid their passports and had to rush to catch the flight.

Also on the flight were the opera singers Oleg Bryjak and Maria Radner, returning home after a performance at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu.

He stated, "We call for prayer for all the victims and their families in this tragedy. Let us also remember the team working with the victims and support their families these days."

The general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, Rev. Guy Liagre said, "We pray for the presence of God's comforting peace in the coming days and months for all those who have been touched by this unforeseen tragedy."

On the same day members of the Conference of European Churches governing board met, Liagre said, "We are drawn closer together in our common sorrow for this loss of life in France today."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would travel to the site on Wednesday.

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