Home » News » Germanwings crash video ‘found’, Lufthansa knew about pilot’s depression

1 April, 2015

Germanwings crash video ‘found’, Lufthansa knew about pilot’s depression

Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr addresses a joint press conference with the Germanwings CEO in Cologne, western Germany, on March 26, 2015 on the Germanwings plane crash over the French Alps this week. Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said he was

A video filming the last moments of the downed Germanwings aircraft has reportedly been recovered from a mobile phone memory card at the crash site.

Germany’s Bild newspaper and French magazine Paris Match, both claim to have been shown the footage but said it was unclear whether it was filmed by either a passenger or crew member and appeared to be taken from the back of the A320.

Reports claim the “totally blurred and chaotic” footage also features the sound of three metallic bangs – presumed to be the captain trying to break into the locked cockpit.

Screams of “My God” can reportedly be heard in several languages before the cabin jolts, apparently when the plane clipped a mountainside, according to the reports.

More desperate cries can be heard before the video ends, Bild said, with reports claiming, “no individuals could be made out”.

Paris Match said the footage was recovered from the debris of the wreckage by a “source close to the investigation”, reports state.

“Even though the scene on board is chaotic and completely shaky, and no individual person can be identified, the accuracy of the video is beyond question,” Bild said.

Lufthansa said it was aware about the footage reports, but questioned whether a mobile phone could have withstood the impact.

“We have also read of reports in a French newspaper about the video,” a spokesman for the company said, the AAP reports.

“But we have not seen the video and we do not know if it exists. Therefore we cannot confirm if the video is genuine.

“Considering that everything on the plane was destroyed, it would be unusual for a mobile phone to survive the impact.”

The reports on the existence of the recording come after Germanwings parent airline Lufthansa said it knew about co-pilot Andreas Lubitz’s mental state six years ago.

According to reports, Lubitz told the Lufthansa flight school in 2009 he had experienced a “serious depressive episode”. Lufthansa has since provided the emails he sent to the school when he resumed pilot training after a six-month interruption to prosecutors.

Lufthansa confirmed that insurers had set aside $300m to cover costs from the case.

All 150 people on flight U49525 flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, including two Australians were killed after Lubitz intentionally crashed the plane into the French Alps.

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Flight U49525 Germanwings lufthansa Plane Crash