Alleged Cellphone Footage Shows Germanwings Flight 9525's Last Moments Before Crash, Passengers Heard Screaming 'My God' in Several Languages
Alleged cellphone footage of the final moments from Germanwings Flight 9525 that was deliberately crashed last week, killing all 150 people on board, records people screaming "My God" in several different languages. While investigators have said that no such footage has been found, both German and French newspapers have sworn to have seen it.
Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin told CNN on Wednesday that "so far no videos were used in the crash investigation," responding to the media reports of the footage. He added, however, that "a person who has such a video needs to immediately give it to the investigators."
Both the German daily Bild and the French newspaper Paris Match have claimed to have seen the cellphone footage allegedly showing the final moments of the flight, which crashed in the French Alps.
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"One can hear cries of 'My God' in several languages," Paris Match reported. "Metallic banging can also be heard more than three times, perhaps of the pilot trying to open the cockpit door with a heavy object. Towards the end, after a heavy shake, stronger than the others, the screaming intensifies. Then nothing."
Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of Bild online, added: "It is a very disturbing scene."
The 150 people on board represented 18 different nationalities, though most were German and Spanish citizens. The flight had been en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf.
The newspapers claim that the video was recovered from a phone at the wreckage site, but have not published it online.
Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz is believed to have deliberately locked the captain out of the cockpit and crashed the plane down into the French Alps in a murder-suicide.
Investigators have discovered that he had been treated for "suicidal tendencies" before receiving his pilot's license, but the information was not made known to his employer or the authorities because of doctor-patient confidentiality.
Torn-up doctor's notes were also found in his home, stating that he was unfit for work on the day of the crash.
It was Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin who first told the media last week of Lubitz's actions, based on the recovered black box audio recording.
"The most plausible interpretation is that the co-pilot, through a voluntary act, had refused to open the cabin door to let the captain in. He pushed the button to trigger the aircraft to lose altitude. He operated this button for a reason we don't know yet, but it appears that the reason was to destroy this plane," the French prosecutor said.
"When you are responsible for 150 people, I don't call it a suicide," he added about the co-pilot.
BBC News noted that Thomas Winkelmann, chief executive of Germanwings, and Carsten Spohr, head of the parent company Lufthansa, have meanwhile visited the crash site in the French Alps, where recovery operations are still taking place.
"Everybody at Lufthansa knows how hard this work has been... We are very grateful," Spohr told rescue workers.
"We know the burden that has been put on this area, where nothing is the same anymore," he added.
"We will do everything we can to turn this place into a place of mourning for relatives of the victims, and to restore this beautiful countryside."
