Germanwings passengers may have made calls to loved ones just seconds before horror crash

French investigators have revealed that they have recovered a number of mobile phones from the crash site

Getty/ReutersHorror: investigators now believe passengers made phone calls in the final minutes of the doomed flight

Frantic passengers on the doomed Germanwings flight may have made desperate phone calls to loved ones just moments before crashing into the French Alps.

It is thought that people on board tragic Flight 4U9525 used the seconds before Andreas Lubitz flew the plane into the ground to contact their family and friends while they sat in the cabin.

The news was revealed yesterday when French investigators at the crash site announced they had recovered a number of mobile phones from the wreckage.

French prosecutor Brice Robin said: "I don't know if anything will be extracted from them."

Although the phones are thought to hold potentially critical information, none of them have yet been analysed - leading to some claiming footage reportedly taken from the cabin and leaked to the press is not authentic.

The footage emerged on Tuesday and reportedly shows chaotic scenes inside the cabin just seconds before the plane crashes.

ParisMatch, a French magazine, and Bild, Germany's largest tabloid newspaper, said they had 'obtained' the video found among the wreckage of the disaster which killed all 150 people on board.




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Originally, Jean-Marc Menichini, the French police official lieutenant-colonel leading the search operation, slammed reports of mobile footage as "totally wrong" and "unwarranted".

A short while later, Mr Robin revealed that the team had in fact recovered "several" mobile phones from the crash site.

He added that none of the phones had yet been examined, but that they were on their way to specialist teams in Rosny-sous-Bois outside Paris.

After hearing the reports that the phones had not been examined, Frédéric Helbert, the Paris Match journalist who saw the mobile phone footage, claimed it could mean something was going wrong with the investigation.




He said: "If all the mobile phones and notably all the SIM cards found at the scene have not been analysed – because their data can be retrieved – it suggests there is a real problem in terms of the investigation."

Another journalist who saw the video previously revealed the horror of what he witnessed.

In an interview, Julie Reichert, editor-in-chief of Bild newspaper, said that passengers can be heard screaming just moments before the plane crashes into the ground.

Speaking to CNN about the moment in the clip just before it goes dead, Mr Reichert said it was a "very disturbing scene".

He said: "We are in, what we believe to be the very final moments of the plane, is that plane heading downwards people are being in panic, people are screaming and, you know, in the background we hear that metallic bang that was talked about before.

"And what happens then is that, you know, something seems to hit the plane or the plane seems to hits something and it is jumping for quite a quick moment we hear more screaming and then that is the end of the sequence we were able to see."

When quizzed over whether or not he thought the footage was genuine or not, Mr Reichert said he believed it was real but declined to say where or how he got hold of it.

According to Bild, the footage is extremely blurry and no individuals can be identified, but it is being examined as a key piece of evidence by investigators.

Passenger screams can be heard, including several shouting "My God" in different languages.


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And crucially, at least three "metallic" bangs are audible.

The video reportedly shows the plane clipping the edge of a mountain, prompting further cries from passengers, before it ends.

Neither Bild nor ParisMatch have published the video, but say it was found by a source close to the investigation.

It was apparently filmed near the very back of the plane, and it is not known whether it was taken by a passenger or a cabin crew member.