Passengers ‘knew they were going to die’

A French rescue worker inspects the remains of the Germanwings Airbus A320 at the site of the crash, near Seyne-les-Alpes, in the French Alps, on March 29, 2015. Photo: Gonzalo Fuentes

A French rescue worker inspects the remains of the Germanwings Airbus A320 at the site of the crash, near Seyne-les-Alpes, in the French Alps, on March 29, 2015. Photo: Gonzalo Fuentes

Published Apr 1, 2015

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Paris - A video purportedly showing the final seconds inside the cabin of the Germanwings airliner minutes before it crashed emerged on Tuesday, two European media outlets said, although French police denied the claims to CNN.

One sequence reportedly shows a chaotic scene with passengers screaming “My God”.

French magazine Paris Match and German daily Bild said the authenticity of the video filmed on a mobile phone is “unquestionable” and that it had been retrieved from the wreckage of last Tuesday's crash.

However, French police official Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Marc Menichini denied that investigators had found mobile phone footage at the crash site, telling CNN that the reports were “completely wrong” and “unwarranted”.

The recording lasting just a few seconds showed that passengers knew what was happening to them before the plane crashed into the French Alps, instantly killing all 150 people on board, according to the reports.

“The scene was so chaotic that it was hard to identify people, but the sounds of the screaming passengers made it perfectly clear that they were aware of what was about to happen to them,” said Paris Match, adding that people were heard crying “My God” in several languages.

It added that “metallic banging” could be heard more than three times - possibly the attempts of the pilot to open the cockpit door with a heavy object.

Investigators evaluating voice recorder data say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz allegedly locked his captain out of the cockpit and crashed the plane.

AFP

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