| 1 | Families of Germanwings victims release white balloons after an homage ceremony in front of a stele, in Le Vernet, French Alps, Friday, July 24, 2015. |
| 2 | Families of those killed in the Germanwings crash are in the Alpine village where the plane went down to commemorate the dead and bury unidentified remains. |
| 3 | Friday's ceremony in Le Vernet takes place exactly four months after the co-pilot is believed to have intentionally crashed the Airbus 320 into a nearby mountain, killing all 150 people on board. |
| 4 | The town sub-prefect, Patricia Willaert, estimates 300 family members are attending. |
| 5 | Most of the dead were German and Spanish. |
| 6 | LE VERNET, France (AP) - The families of those killed in the Germanwings plane crash released white balloons into the air Friday, holding a ceremony in the Alpine village exactly four months after the plane's co-pilot crashed the Airbus 320 into a nearby mountain. |
| 7 | The inter-religious service under a tent honored those whose bodies went unidentified. |
| 8 | Those remains were buried on Thursday night at the nearby Le Vernet cemetery, but families visited the grave at the close of the service as the balloons floated skyward. |
| 9 | French prosecutors say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit on the March 24 flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, then set the aircraft on its doomed course. |
| 10 | All 150 people aboard the plane died, mostly German and Spanish. |
| 11 | The town sub-prefect, Patricia Willaert, estimated that 300 family members attended the service at the memorial stone laid near the mountain where their loved ones died. |
| 12 | Among those absent was Carsten Spohr, the CEO of Lufthansa, Germanwings' parent company, who decided not to attend "because of the tense atmosphere that has arisen in recent days" as a result of an open letter from a group of victims' relatives, company spokesman Helmut Tolksdorf said. |
| 13 | "He does not want to burden a dignified ceremony with this discussion," he added. |
| 14 | The company was represented at the ceremony by Germanwings chief Thomas Winkelmann and Lufthansa chief financial offer Simone Menne. |
| 15 | The parents of 16 German high school students killed in the crash released a scathing letter accusing the Lufthansa's chief of ignoring their needs and feelings and insulting them with his company's compensation offer. |
| 16 | Lufthansa has offered around 100,000 euros ($108,000) per family, depending upon its size. |
| 17 | Le Vernet's mayor, Francois Balique, says the crash site on the mountain should be open within two months as a memorial. |
| 18 | This story has been corrected to show that remains were buried Thursday night, not Friday. |