Video 'shows cabin chaos' in seconds before Alps crash: reports
PARIS - Agence France-Presse
In this file photo dated Tuesday, March 24, 2015, provided by the French Interior Ministry, French emergency rescue services work at the site of the Germanwings jet that crashed on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 near Seyne-les-Alpes, France. AP Photo
A video purportedly showing the final seconds inside the cabin of the ill-fated Germanwings airliner minutes before it crashed has emerged, two European media outlets said April 1, although French police denied the claims.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 in the French Alps.
However, French police Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Marc Menichini denied that investigators had found mobile phone footage at the crash site, telling CNN 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 slammed into a mountain, 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.
People were heard crying "My God" in several languages, it said.
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 deliberately crashed the plane.
Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said anyone with footage "must hand it over immediately to investigators".