Marseille, France (CNN)The
French prosecutor leading an investigation into the crash of
Germanwings Flight 9525 insisted Wednesday that he was not aware of any
video footage from on board the plane.
Marseille
prosecutor Brice Robin, in charge of the criminal inquiry into the
crash, told CNN that "so far no videos were used in the crash
investigation."
He added, "A person who has such a video needs to immediately give it to the investigators."
Robin's
comments follow claims by two publications, German daily Bild and
French Paris Match, of a cell phone video showing the harrowing final
seconds from on board the flight as it crashed into the French Alps on
March 24. Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz is accused of deliberately bringing
down the plane, killing all 150 on board.
Paris Match and Bild reported that the video was recovered from a phone at the wreckage site.
The
two publications described the supposed video but did not post it on
their websites. They said that they watched the video, which was found
by a source close to the investigation.
Germanwings plane crashes in France 30 photos
"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."
"It is a very disturbing scene," said Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of Bild online.
An official with France's air accident investigation agency, the BEA, said the agency was not aware of any such video.
Lt.
Col. Jean-Marc Menichini, a French Gendarmerie spokesman in charge of
communications on rescue efforts around the Germanwings crash site, told
CNN that the reports were "completely wrong" and "unwarranted."
Cell phones have been collected at the site, he said, but added that they "hadn't been exploited yet."
Editor 'very confident' clip is real
Menichini
said he believed the cell phones would need to be sent to the Criminal
Research Institute in Rosny-sous-Bois, near Paris, to be analyzed by
specialized technicians working hand in hand with investigators. But
none of the cell phones found so far has been sent to the institute,
Menichini said.
Asked whether staff
involved in the search could have leaked a memory card to the media,
Menichini answered with a categorical "no."
Reichelt
told CNN's "Erin Burnett: Outfront" that he had watched the video and
stood by the report, saying Bild and Paris Match are "very confident"
that the clip is real.
He noted that
investigators only revealed they'd recovered cell phones from the crash
site after Bild and Paris Match published their reports.
"That
is something we did not know before. ... Overall we can say many things
of the investigation weren't revealed by the investigation at the
beginning," he said.
Lubitz's depression
Lufthansa
CEO Carsten Spohr expressed his "deep sorrow" Wednesday over the crash
of Germanwings Flight 9525 and promised to help the victims' families
for as long as they need.
Lufthansa CEO visits crash site, avoids questions 02:25
Speaking
as he visited the crash site in the French Alps, he said, "There is not
a single hour where we don't think about this terrible accident, the
victims and the relatives and friends of these victims.
"We
are learning more every day about the cause of the accident, but I
think it will take a long, long time for everybody, all of us, to
understand how this could happen."
Spohr
also thanked all those involved in the investigation and recovery
efforts as well as local residents for their response to the devastating
crash.
He added a wreath to the pile
of flowers left by grieving families at a simple stone memorial set up
in the village of Le Vernet, the closest accessible point to the crash
site.
A memorial service was also to
take place Wednesday in the town of Haltern, Germany, which lost 16
students and two teachers in the crash.
Lufthansa confirmed Tuesday that co-pilot Lubitz had battled depression years before he took the controls of Germanwings Flight 9525.
Lubitz
told his Lufthansa flight training school in 2009 that he had a
"previous episode of severe depression," the German airline said
Tuesday.
Investigators: Recovery effort going 'bit by bit' 02:10
Email
correspondence between Lubitz and the school discovered in an internal
investigation, Lufthansa said, included medical documents he submitted
in connection with resuming his flight training.
The
announcement indicates that Lufthansa, the parent company of
Germanwings, knew of Lubitz's battle with depression, allowed him to
continue training and ultimately put him in the cockpit.
Lufthansa,
whose CEO Spohr had previously said Lubitz was 100% fit to fly,
described its statement Tuesday as a "swift and seamless clarification"
and said it was sharing the information and documents -- including
training and medical records -- with public prosecutors.
Recovery
teams have been working for the past week to recover human remains and
plane debris scattered across a steep mountainside.
Menichini told CNN late Tuesday that no visible human remains were left at the site but recovery teams would keep searching.
French
President Francois Hollande, speaking Tuesday, said that it should be
possible to identify all the victims using DNA analysis by the end of
the week, sooner than authorities had previously suggested.
In the meantime, the recovery of the victims' personal belongings will start Wednesday, Menichini said.
Prosecutors: Co-pilot suicidal at one time 03:01
Investigative agency chief quizzed
Meanwhile,
French investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported Wednesday
that the Gendarmerie Nationale, or National Police, had questioned Remy
Jouty, the head of the BEA, regarding leaks in the investigation --
specifically a report in The New York Times about the contents of the
cockpit voice recorder.
BEA spokeswoman
Martine Del Bono confirmed to CNN that the Gendarmerie Nationale
questioned Jouty regarding the Germanwings investigation but refused to
elaborate. She said he was questioned on the evening of March 25.
That same day, The New York Times reported that the Germanwings pilot was locked out of the cockpit just before the crash.
"An
investigator said evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated one
pilot left the cockpit before the plane's descent and was unable to get
back in," reporter Nicola Clark wrote.
Wednesday's
article in Le Canard Enchainé, citing a government source, said: "They
(the Gendarmerie) reproached him (Jouty) for not informing the
Prosecutor first regarding the content of the cockpit voice recorder.
"The
Marseille prosecutor, Brice Robin, in charge of the investigation and
the Gendarmerie found out about the cockpit voice recorder content in
... the press!" said Le Canard Enchainé.
Separately,
the French National Union of Airline Pilots confirmed that it had filed
a complaint against a person it identified merely as "X" last week for
breach of confidentiality after "a source close to the investigation"
leaked information to The New York Times.
"The
article states that the source is a high official part of the team of
investigators and that he had access to audio recordings from the
recorder," the union's statement said.
The
union said information taken from the recording was "communicated to
the press before it was given to the judicial inquiry and especially
families." It claimed European rules had been violated by those who had
access to the recordings.
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