joining us now from the staging area near the site of the crash in france is nbc's claudio lavanga. claudio, this has been a heart-wrenching day for the families of the victims. >> reporter: yes abby. we've seen some heartbreaking moments. about 200 family members arrived here in the early hours of the afternoon. this is the town that's closest to the crash site. they were taken to about a 15-minute drive from here a mountain top, very small village. a few houses there. it's about two miles away from the crash site where they set up this makeshift memorial. they stood there overlooking the mountain range where the crash happened. of course, they couldn't really see the debris. but that was the closest they could get. some flags were being hanged from the representative nationalities of the people on board. mainly, of course, from germany and spain. you could see, of course the suffering in those family members' faces. many tears. we saw some french police some female french police trying to console the female members of the relatives. there was a spine-chilling moment where we saw so

nbc's claudio lavanga is still with us at the crash site. also with us john cox, a retired airline pilot who has flown the a-320. john, the important information we got was that the voice recorder is being analyzed. it may takes weeks or months. they've found some data. they have not been able to identify the actual voices yet. he went through details. they have not found the second black box, contrary to some reports that the envelope or the casing for it was found in pieces. they have not found it but the round part of the voice recorder the first black box, is intact. despite the damage to the surrounding casement they have been able to start analyzing that data. what else did you pick up from your vantage point as an expert? >> well a couple things. one, the fact that the data is able to be extracted from the cockpit voice recorder. that means that they'll probably get most of it even if some of the chips are damaged. they'll probably be able to get it put together. one thing that they did not say was whether the crew during the descent

joining us now is claudio lavanga near the crash site in the french alps. her or not this news from "the new york times" is making waves there at the crash site, whether people are talking about this as a potential explanation for what might have happened there in the alps? >> reporter: well, rachel, it's 2:00 in the morning here. it just came out about an hour ago, this report. so we have been trying to find independent confirmation of that report in "the new york times." but as i said, it's very late, or early in the morning. we've been trying to contact those officials that we've been talking to all day here. but it's quite difficult, of course, to reach them. i believe the first time we're going to hear from them, or get some kind of denial of confirmation of the reports will be tomorrow morning. but let me tell you something. well, today, of course, we were all -- there were a whole bunch of theories flying around. the most credible one was the two pilots were in some way lost consciousness. otherwise it would not explain why that plane -- it didn't nos

nbc's claudio lavanga is live from the crash site. let's start with you on the ground there. what's the very latest? >> reporter: well craig, of course the recovery operation here continues. we've seen helicopters going back and forth from the air field, where i'm standing. what they are doing, carrying 15 emergency recovery workers there on the crash site it's very difficult to reach. we know that by now and the way they do is that they hover over the crash site and drop where two -- recovery workers at the time are dropped on that site. what they are going to do there is get samples, dna samples from the body parts at this point and match it with dna that the families have left here and they are continuing to do so. then there are other investigators who are in charge of recovering pieces of debris that may be useful to investigators and of course trying to bring back the bodies here. but the families are continuing to arrive. yesterday we saw about 200. today there were more. we saw some families this morning driving up to that memorial, makeshift memorial site two miles f

claudio lavanga reports. >> this is northern league on a southern charm offensive. on sat the anti-europe and anti-immigration party held a party where they were least popular, rome. stealing from the industrialized rich north of italy to finance the poorer south. but its new leader says that rather than breaking up the country, he wants to unite it under his leadership. >> i'm sicilian but i think we should all be united against europe. >> salvini is the only politician who is trying to do something for all italians let alone the northern league. >> the party increased from 6% to 30% and is now the most popular right wing party in italy. but he wants to essentially want to make the league less northern and more national. >> to broaden its base the northern league is partnering with other right wing movements including the neofascist group and france's national party. but many in rome have not forgot forgotten years of antiimmigration law they passed led by sharif yo sylvio berlusconi. feelings were still rung running high. >> the partnership with the neofascists yo

. >> we start at the crash site nbc's claudio lavanga is there. >> reporter: that road to the crash site is now completed and as early as tomorrow morning, a convoy of four-by-four cars will take the emergency workers and investigators from the air crash site by car. now, that's a two-point miles ground path that was built in only a matter of days by using heavy machinery, but they did need to do that as quickly as possible because until today, the only way to bring the investigators and the emergency workers and recovery workers on that site was by winching them down a cable by a helicopter, 80 meters drop, on that crash site and, of course this operation was even slowed down dramatically by the strong winds that we experienced in the past few days. we've also been told by the french police that as many as 4,500 pieces of debris and body parts were recovered so far, toure. >> claudio lavanga, thank you again for that. let's head to germany where investigators are digging into lubitz's files. nbc's katy tur is live with the latest. >> reporter: hi there, toure. investigators are trying t

nbc's claudio lavanga standing by. what's the latest on the investigation from the ground?g website, flight radar 24, has said that they did figure out that somebody of course the co-pilot in this particular case set the autopilot after reaching cruise altitude of 38,000 feet sets the autopilot for the plane to descend to 100 feet which is the lowest possible setting. now, this is something that this flight radar 24 site said. they passed the information on to the investigators in france. of course, they're looking at every possible lead. they're trying to find out in particular why. what would lead this 28-year-old man to crash a plane with 150 people on board? we do know he had a six-month break from his job as a pilot for a burnout syndrome some kind of depression. investigators believe that's got nothing to do with it for now. but of course they'll have to look into it very carefully. >> claudio lavanga on the ground for us there in france. thank you so much. well cockpit safety is back in the forefront of this following the germanwings crash in the alps. frances rivera

nbc's claudio lavanga is there. good morning. >> good morning, jose.everybody is in bit of a state of shock. locals following the news and when it transpired an hour ago, after the leak from the "new york times," but when it was confirmed that that co-pilot downed that plane voluntarily, the word that i've been hearing among locals more frequently is incredible. they just cannot believe that this could happen and neither did we, of course. but, of course, we're trying to get more reaction from local authorities, including the mayor later on but for now the question really that remains here is why would the co-pilot or first officer as he's officially known would down the plane without saying a single word to the control tower or even to himself. >> yeah and that crash scene is now a crime scene. it's a murder scene, and -- and the families of lufthansa was just saying that the families are being taken care of as well as you can under the circumstances but i'm sure a lot of them want to fly, want to get as close as they can to where their family members

nbc's claudio lavanga is live from the crash scene. what's the latest?ice just confirmed they hope to open in the next few days a ground path that will allow land vehicles to s tos to reach that air crash location. that will speed up greatly the recovery operation because as you know in the past few days the only way since tuesday, of course, to get investigators there would be to winch them down from a helicopter into an 80-meter drop on that location. we hopefully will see that ground path open in the next few days. in the meantime investigators told us they managed to isolate 78 unique dna from the more than 600 body parts recovered since tuesday. those dna samples were then sent to paris to match them with family members. now, no i.d. no positive i.d. has been found yet. it's only a matter of hours, if not days before the first remains will be identified, alex. >> all right. nbc's claudio lavanga. thank you. >>> meantime, today in egypt, the arab league made it official. a joint military force against the houthi rebels in yemen. in yemen, though, the

prosecutors say that co-pilot possibly hid a medical condition from his employer nbc's claudio lavangamorning german investigators told us it did find two copies of the sick leave certificate issued by a doctor for an unspecified illness, so that it would exempt andreas lubitz turning up for work in days that included tuesday, the day when he flew that plane into the mountains. well the andreas lubitz hid that information from the employers and from his work environment, clearly indicates that he'd willingly boarded that plane though unfit to do so. also suggested maybe, and only maybe is our own speculations he was afraid that whatever that illness was would have prevented him from continuing his dream job, being a pilot. now the investigators are looking did -- we don't know what the illness is though six years ago lubitz went through six-month period in which he suffered a burnt-out syndrome some kind of depression. of course, that could be related to this illness on this doctor prescribed for lubitz which should have prerented rentrentventing him from boarding the plane. they did n

claudio lavanga at crash site in france. what can you tell us?amily members of the victims, arrived ten minutes ago here in seyne-les-alpes the town closest to the site. they were taken -- flown to marseilles on two separate special planes organized by both german wings and lufthansa. now here in attending a special ceremony in a makeshift chapel set up here close by this airfield. after that, they will go drive up to a memorial which was set up, kind of a makeshift memorial set up in a location not a town, just location on a mountaintop with a view over in the distance over the crash site. who wants to go and take a closer look of the crash site will be taken there by helicopters, as we saw four five helicopters here that were flying in that direction. but the word and everybody's mouth traumatized by the experience is incredible. just cannot believe the co-pilot deliberately downed that plane. >> i know that -- >> all right. thanks very much claudio lavanga, reporting live from the crash site. >>> keeping an eye on markets because while stocks

joining us from the crash site is nbc news reporter claudio lavanga. claudeio, what is the latest from the site? >> reporter: well, it is 1:00 in the morning here, so we don't have any way to corroborate and confirm those reports. those just came out in "the new york times." we have not seen that before. all we heard of this afternoon, about a few hours ago, which was official, which is the aviation authority saying they were hearing the voices of the pilot, but they want to figure out what they were exactly saying. now, this is the first time we do hear it. it is not confirmed yet. but if it is confirmed tomorrow, well, that will explain a lot about this strange turn of events. obviously we -- one of the theories flying around that seems to be more credible was the fact that the pilots were incapacitated in some way. but if one of the pilots really got stuck out of the door, either voluntarily or involuntarily or the other pilot was not opening the door on purpose, that we don't know yet. but certainly that explains a lot over why, or how this plane l

. >> joining me now to discuss all of this nbc's katy tur in germany and claudio lavanga and john cox from tampa. let me start with you, obviously word from the german prosecutor that the pilot had, mr. lubitz, in fact suicidal tendencies. what more do we know. >> reporter: we don't know for a fact much more than that, other than what the prosecutor out here has confirmed to us on the record, that they didn't find any evidence of what they call an organic illness basically a physical illness like cancer or heart disease. they did find evidence of a psycho somatic disorder suicide tendencies before he got his pilot's license and he has seen doctors since then. there has been no proof since then that he had suicidal tendencies after that or exhibited any aggressive behavior towards others. they do add right now they have no motive for why he did this allegedly did this. they've interviewed a number of his close friends and family and so far they've not been able to discern exactly what was going on in his head or what would lead him to not just commit suicide but to allegedly commit mas

and claudio lavanga is in the rugged ravine in the alps. what is the priority for the search crews. >> reporter: the first is recovering the bodies and this is a remote area in the mountains and we heard five emergency workers, the night after the crash there is five emergency workers that camped out there in the freezing cold and they set up fires so the wolves wouldn't come to the site and possibly feed on the corpses. there was some gruesome details there. and so this is being monitored. and the bodies will be take and way as soon as possible of course. and as you said the situation is a really difficult location to reach. and we've seen today helicopters flying back and forth and lowering rescuers today and now the operation is called off because it has gone dark and will resume again tomorrow morning. and this is a mystery baffling everybody and including lufthansa and the ceo of the company who minutes ago given in a press conference minutes ago said they have no idea what happened. >> thank you very much. >>> and now to germany, who

claudio lavanga at the crash side. the families are grieving and being asked for dna and can see how difficult this recovery is. >> reporter: it is very difficult, andrea today the helicopters are still taking the recovery workers to the crash site. it is very windy here. we know there are four helicopters deployed to take 15 security emergency and recovery workers on the crash site. the way to do it they drop two at a time 80 meters drop to the crash site while ten of them are dna specialists who will take as much as they can dna samples from the remains and it will then try to match them with a dna which was left taken from the families and other five are recovery experts. we'll try to get pieces of debris and of course bodies back. but the families keep coming and we saw 200 relatives of the victims who visited a makeshift memorial about two miles from here. the original officer told us in the next 15 days there will be more to come to up to 1,000 family members will gather here and come and go. we have japanese rel

. >> claudio lavanga, thank you so much. tom costello and john cox join me. tom, i start with you here. the data on that voice recorder how long typically does it take to get that critical information downloaded. >> if the recording is in good condition, they should be able to get that within an hour or two. that's not difficult. the concern is when you look at the pictures and see the condition of that box, i want to point out that box is different than this box. it does the same thing. there are different varieties of flight data and voice recorders. but the box has been as you can see pounded and significantly damaged. i think the question that the french are wrestling with is how much can they pull off the cockpit voice recorder. they have extremely sophisticated equipment to be able to do that but that could be a big challenge. i think we want to hear from the french exactly what they're able to get. to answer more directly two hours is the amount of length of time or length of time that that recording should contain. two hours' worth of conversation. th

. >> nbc's claudio lavanga joins me now from france. bring us up to speed on the investigation and how much man power is going into the investigation on day two. >> reporter: as for investigation, thomas we were hoping we would get some sort of information from that press conference in which they gave us details of the voice recordings on that black box they found yesterday. as you mentioned, they did say that they did extract some kind of audio from it, some voices and sounds are audible. but before they can figure out whose those voices were and what sounds they were it will take some days. so the mystery remains on what happened on that flight from barcelona to dusseldorf. it started to descend out of the blue for no reason. the control tower said when they saw that strange descent, they tried to contact the pilots, but the pilots did not respond. were they unconscious? we don't know. we'll have to wait for the investigators to tell us that, of course. but that is a possibility. the rescue operation, in the meantime, continues. it's

. >> claudio lavanga, thank you so much. and flying a glider. this decade-old video obtained by a german tv station which says it shows andreas lubitz at the controls of a glider. friends say in flying gliders lubitz first realized his dream of flight. friends who flew with him say it was clear he had a love for the sky. live to nbc's katy tur in germany. good morning. what more are we learning about the copilot? >> reporter: well, it's coming out in drips and drabs as we speak, but it's proving to find out more about him and exactly what his motivation is it's proving to be just as difficult as collecting the remains and the e debris from that mountainside in the alps. but investigators are doing a thorough job, they say, of collecting all the information they can. they did find doctors' notes last week ripped up in the trash that should have gone to lufthansa, instead were found in the trash. they wouldn't specify the illness the notes were for but wide reports they were for depression and reports he was having vision problems. vision problems

let's get the latest from nbc's claudio lavanga near that crash scene in the alps.ing here in seyne-les-alpes. it's a very difficult operation, especially in very windy conditions such as in the last couple of days. what they're doing there is 15 of them are dna specialists. they are trying to collect as much dna samples, as many as they can from the body parts. investigators haven't found a body that is intact because of the violence of that impact. and then they will try to match that dna with of course the dna samples left by the families to identify the victims. the other 15 are recovery specialists. they will be looking through the thousands of pieces of debris very small debris that may help investigators to rule out the possibility of a technical fault, for instance. but the one thing they'll be looking at is the second black box, the flight data recorder -- it's only that that can rule out the possibility. let me just insist that the german investigators believe and are almost sure that it was the co-pilot that flew the plane into the mountain range. but it'