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A search and recovery operation has resumed in the southern French Alps after Tuesday's crash of a Germanwings plane with 150 people on board, the BBC reported.

Officials warn the operation could last for days in a remote mountain ravine between Digne and Barcelonnette.

The leaders of Germany, France and Spain are due to visit the crash site.

The Airbus A320 - flight 4U 9525 - from Barcelona to Duesseldorf crashed after an eight-minute rapid descent, officials say. There were no survivors.

Officials believe 67 of the 144 passengers were German citizens, including 16 pupils returning from an exchange trip.

More than 40 passengers were believed to be Spanish and the flight was also carrying citizens of Australia, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it was "sadly likely" that some British nationals were on board.

Germanwings, a low-cost airline owned by Germany's main carrier Lufthansa, has an excellent safety record.

Using helicopters, a recovery team reached the site on Tuesday and later found the one of the two "black box" flight recorders - a key step in establishing what caused the crash.

The interior ministry confirmed on Wednesday it was the cockpit voice recorder and had been damaged in the crash, although it could still provide information.

Finding the second box - the flight data recorder - will be a key aim of Wednesday's search operation.

A team of police officers spent the night on the mountain, securing the site.