German media reacts to Alps tragedy

German newspaper Tageszeitung, more commonly referred to as taz, on Wednesday offered an early commentary on reaction to the disaster near the French Alpine town of Barcelonette.

Taz noted the lament of certain people on social media about double standards - that people were only concerned about the fatalities through a sense of nationalism.

"That's true," said the paper's online commentary. "A plane crash in Bangladesh would at most make for a short report. "This, however, has nothing to do with exuberant nationalism or ignorance of what is going on internationally… No, the airbus disaster affects us deeply because it is close to us. We identify with it; it could have been us, our relatives or the person we love."

The German mass-circulation Bild featured a black cover as well as a title page that proclaimed simply "150 dead! Airbus - Absturz in den Alpen" in print set against a backdrop of the disaster site. The newspaper's earlier print edition was dedicating several pages to the tragedy.

Bild's online edition carried as its top feature the story of the 16 children from one high school who were killed on their way home from a language exchange trip. "Parents tried to reach their dead children by phone," the main headline on the site read. It also featured the story of an opera singer who was on board the flight with her baby.

Bild also mulled three different crash theories - a sudden drop in air pressure, a computer malfunction or a terror attack. It said that, despite evidence of lack of an attack, Spanish police had checked video footage of the passengers boarding.

Meanwhile, Welt's online assistant editor, Oliver Michalsky tweeted an advance image of Wednesday's "compact" tabloid-sized edition.

"Black Day," read the headline, with pictures of candles at a place of mourning. The online edition led with: "The puzzle of the silent descent of Flight 455."

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's website led with mourning in the town of Haltern - from where the schoolchildren came. It also stressed that - despite the finding of the plane's black box recorder - the inquiry could take longer than expected.

"A final explanation could take many months, if not years," said the paper. "There could be many explanations."