Alps Crash Site 'Freakishly Close' to 1953 Disaster

As investigators head to the remote site in the French Alps where Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed yesterday, aviation experts are remembering an air disaster that happened in what the International Business Times calls a "freakishly close" location near the village of Barcelonnette. On Sept. 1, 1953, an Air France Lockheed L-749A Constellation crashed into Mont Cimet, less than a mile away from the Germanwings site, as it prepared to land in Nice, NBC News reports.

The plane had left Paris for a long journey that would have included stops in Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, and India on the way to Vietnam. Investigators concluded that the flight "had deviated from the planned course for unknown reasons," according to the Aviation Safety Network. All nine crew members and 33 passengers—including famous violinist Jacques Thibaud—were killed. (The victims of the Germanwings crash include 16 teenagers who were on their way home to Germany after a weeklong exchange program in Spain.)