The coffins of 15 of the 16 high school students killed in the Germanwings plane crash are to leave Duesseldorf airport in a hearse convoy accompanied by a police motorcade back to the town of Haltern, where the children came from.

Police said the convoy is expected to arrive in Haltern in western Germany around 3 p.m. (1300GMT) on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the families of the victims will attend a short ceremony at a hangar at Duesseldorf airport, where the coffins are laid out.

After more than two months, Lufthansa on Tuesday night brought to Duesseldorf 44 bodies of the 150 people killed when a Germanwings plane smashed into the French Alps in March.