GETTYGermanwings A320 plane crash: Harrowing last moments as passengers cried in terror
Just moments before the Airbus A320 smashed into a mountainside at 434mph, the cries of terror from the passengers and crew could be clearly heard on one of the jet’s black box recorders.
Investigators told a hushed press conference that the doomed plane plummeted for eight minutes before hitting a remote French mountainside and “bouncing” before shattering into thousands of pieces.
Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said the passengers would have realised their fate in the last seconds before the crash.
He said: “I think the victims only realised at the last moment because on the recording we only hear the screams on the last moments of the recording.
“We only hear screams at the very end, it’s in the last moment and death was instantaneous, it hit the mountain at 700kpm (435mph) per hour.”
Shortly before the sound of the impact, the cockpit voice recorder picked up alarm signals going off, indicating the proximity of the ground, as well as noises of the captain trying to break down the door to the flight deck.
Yesterday’s horrifying revelations were too much for many relatives.
Sandrine Driessens, niece of 59-year-old Belgian Christian Driessens, said she was haunted by the thought that her uncle may have known he was going to die for up to eight minutes.
She said: “My uncle certainly knew that he was living his last moments and it’s very hard to hear that the descent of the aircraft lasted eight minutes.
“For eight long minutes, he was dying.
"This is atrocious.
"I dare not imagine the horror of parents who tried to protect their babies in this airplane.”
Experts said oxygen masks would probably have been released but if passengers had not put them on quickly enough, some may have lost consciousness.
Outlining the final moments Mr Robin said: "The copilot uses the flight monitoring system to start the descent of the plane.
"This can only be done voluntarily, not automatically.
“We hear several cries from the captain asking to get in.
"Through the intercom system he identifies himself – but there is no answer.
"He knocks on the door and asks for it to be opened but there is no answer.
"The most probable interpretation is that the co-pilot refused to open the cockpit door to the pilot and actioned the button which started the descent procedure.
"We can only deduce that it destroyed this plane.”
Mr Robin said the sound of breathing from inside the cockpit was heard until the moment of impact.
“The co-pilot was still alive at this point,” he added.
