Germanwings Flight 4U9525 victims include opera singers, high school students

Two opera singers, an Australian mother and son on holiday, and 16 German 10th-gradestudentsreturning from an exchange in Spain wereamong the victims in Tuesday's crash of GermanwingsFlight 4U9525 in the southern French Alps, which claimed the lives of 150 people.

Three Americans were killed in the crash, including mother and daughter Yvonne and Emily Selke, of Virginia.

The family of the two women issued a statement asking for privacy andsaying they were deeply saddenedby the loss of "two wonderful, caring, amazing people, who meant so much to so many."

The third American, identified as Robert Oliver Calvo, 37, was born in Spain, but is a U.S. citizen. He worked for a fashion companyand had a wife and two children.

His father, Robert Tansill Oliver, urged the families of other victims not to dwell on the horror of the final moments before the crash.

"I'd like to encourage them to think about the wonderful years that they had enjoyed," he said.

Two Iranian journalists,MiladHojjatoleslamiandHosseinJavadi, were also aboard the plane. They had travelled to Spain to cover a soccer match.

The Deutsche Oper am Rhein said bass-baritone OlegBryjak, 54, was returning from Barcelona, where he had sung Alberich in Richard Wagner's Siegfriedat the Gran Teatre del Liceu.Bryjak was born in Kazakhstan.

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"We have lost a great performer and a great person in Oleg Bryjak," opera directorChristophMeyer said. "We are stunned."

The Liceu opera house said the other singer on the flight was Duesseldorf-born Maria Radner, 34, who died along with her husband and baby.

"Our deepest sympathies to family, friends & colleagues of Maria Radner, Oleg Bryjak & all who lost loved ones today," tweeted Canadian Opera Company general director Alexander Neef on Tuesday.

Neef wrote that Radner was due to perform the role of Erda in the COC's production of Siegfried next season.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. said the two Australian victims on the flight wereMelbourne nurse Carol Friday, 68, and her son Greig, 29, an engineer. ABC said the two had been on holiday together in Europe.

A town outside of Barcelona said the victims includes three generations from one Spanish family a schoolgirl, her mother and grandmother.

In the western German town of Haltern, about 80 kilometres northeast of Duesseldorf,friends and families mourned the loss of 14 girls, two boys and their two teachers.

"We are a town of 38,000," Mayor Bodo Klimpel, whoseson attends the same school as the victims, said on ARD television."It's only natural that you know some people personally."

Lara Beer'sbest friend, Paula, was on the flight."You just can't believe that your own friend is gone," the 14-year-oldsaid.

BBC reported that Israel Radio said 39-year-old Israeli national Eyal Baum is among the victims. BBC saidBaum had beenliving in Barcelona and was travelling to Duesseldorf for work.

Victims and nationalities

Here's a breakdown of the nationalities of the victims, listing first those people with one nationality and then those with dual citizenship:

• 71 Germans.
• 48 Spaniards.
• 3 Argentinians.
• 3 Americans.
• 2 Australians.
• 2 Britons.
• 2 Colombians
• 2 Iranians
• 1 Belgian.
• 1 Dane.
• 1 Dutch.
• 1 Japanese.
• 1 Mexican.
• 1 Moroccan.
• 1 Venezuelan.

Dual nationalities:

• 3 German/Kazakh
• 1 German/Japanese
• 1 Spanish/British
• 1 Spanish/Israeli
• 1 Spanish/Moroccan
• 1 Spanish/Mexican
• 1 Venezuelan/Chilean
• 1 nationality unclear