Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Report: Video shows final seconds before Germanwings crash - CBS News

Rescue workers are seen near debris at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 near Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps, March 30, 2015. REUTERS



A video allegedly found at the crash site of Germanwings Flight 9525 captures the terrifying moments inside the passenger jet before it slammed into a mountain in the French Alps, two media outlets reported Tuesday.


French magazine Paris Match and German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported that they viewed the short cell phone video that was provided to them by a source close to the investigation. Paris Match reports it is difficult to identify people in the video but that the sounds of screaming passengers can be clearly heard as well as cries of "Oh my God" in different languages.


The magazine reports that loud metallic banging can also be heard and the video, which lasts only seconds, ends with a heavy shake and more screaming.



Paris Match says the video corroborates some of the contents of the plane's cockpit recording. On Sunday, French officials refused to confirm or deny a partial transcript that Bild am Sonntag said it had obtained of the cockpit recording. The paper reported that the pilot left for the toilet shortly before 10:30 a.m. and was heard trying unsuccessfully to get into the cockpit again a few minutes later, then shouting "for God's sake open the door."


As passengers began screaming and the pilot continued pounding on the door, an automatic warning went off: "Terrain. Pull up."


The captain screamed "open the damn door," as co-pilot Andreas Lubitz could be heard breathing normally.


Within minutes, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed into the mountainside.



Meanwhile, Lufthansa said Tuesday that it knew six years ago that Lubitz week had suffered from a "serious depressive episode."


The airline said that as part of its internal research it found emails that Lubitz sent to the Lufthansa flight school in Bremen when he resumed his training there after an interruption of several months.


In them, he informed the school that he had suffered a "serious depressive episode," which had since subsided.


The airline said Lubitz subsequently passed all medical checks and that it has provided the documents to prosecutors. It declined to make any further comment.


The revelation that officials Lufthansa had been informed of Lubitz's psychological problems raises further questions about why he was allowed to become a pilot for its subsidiary, Germanwings, in September 2013.


Authorities say the 27-year-old Lubitz, who in the past had been treated for suicidal tendencies, locked his captain out of the cockpit before deliberately crashing the Airbus 320 into a mountain in the French Alps on March 24. All 150 people aboard Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf were killed.


Earlier Tuesday, Lufthansa said it had set aside $300 million to deal with possible costs from the crash as French aviation investigators said they were examining "systemic weaknesses" like cockpit entry rules and psychological screening procedures that could have led to the Germanwings plane crash - issues that could eventually change worldwide aviation practices.



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