A video showing the flight path of the downed Airbus A320 has been released by Flightradar24.

According to Flightradar24, which keeps track of aircraft across the world, the Airbus was descending at a rate of about 3,000-4,000ft per minute. The agency said it was quite standard for an airport approach.

The Airbus plane, operated by Lufthansas Germanwings budget airline, crashed in southern France on 24 March en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, police and aviation officials said.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he understood between 142 and 150 people were on board and feared dead.

A spokesman for the DGAC aviation authority said the plane crashed near the town of Barcelonnette about 100km north of the French Riviera city of Nice.

The crashed A320 is 24 years old and has been with the parent Lufthansa group since 1991, according to online database airfleets.net.