sarah: the germanwings flight was on its way from barcelona to dusseldorf.have full coverage in this half hour special. ♪ ben: it is one of europe's worst airline disasters in recent years. 150 people are feared dead after a germanwings flight crashed in the french alps from -- en route from barcelona to dusseldorf. sarah: it went into an eight-minute dissent before hitting the ground. the reason is still unclear. germanwings parent company lufthansa says it is working on the assumption that it is an accident. reporter: it took just hours per search teams to locate one of the plane's black boxes. the flight reporter will give investigators vital information into the cause of the crash. the french interior minister says he is sparing no effort or resource? >> we are putting exhaustive investigative and rescue efforts in place. we have almost 300 firemen and the support of volunteer troops. we are also mobilizing the resources of the national police force. we have 300 officers here. >> at dusseldorf airport crisis teams were brought into console grieving frien

would it continue to dusseldorf try to continue to dusseldorf or would it have some other programming put in the descent, what made it begin to descend in the first place, if they put in the descent, but didn't change routing, the aircraft would continue to fly the route. >> and mikey, the question is it was just a minute in to cruising altitude and had to descend. >> looking at this the question that's perplexing me at the moment is that we know the aircraft is in descent around ten minutes, from flight data radar, 24 information, the speed was bleeding back from over 600 knots to below 200 knots over that ten minute period. if you take the mean around 300, 360, that's around 5 to 6 miles a minute. over ten minutes of five to six miles a minute that's 50 to 60 miles. if you come back 50 to 60 miles of impact what's perplexing at the moment the aircraft appears to have continued on its track, which goes to jay's point, which is the point that chris mentioned in terms of automated systems, if the crew weren't aware what was going on the aircraft would have continued to follow that trac

and the other is in dusseldorf. what they did not find was any sort of good-bye letter or anything else indicating that this was what he was about to do. they also said there's no indication which was a religious or political motive behind all this. right now, say they what they're focusing on is these medical records they found. they say the records are extensive and especially the fact that they found a letter that was torn up, saying that he was sake on the day that he was supposed to fly is for them a very strong indication that the reason why this happened was that he was trying to hide the medical condition that he had and of course we're still trying to find out what exactly that medical condition was, ashleigh. >> obviously so much being carried out by investigators from those two locations they searched. fred pleitgen, thank you for that. now from cnn center in atlanta, i'm joined by our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. i'm also joined by cnn's richard quest and cnn legal analyst paul callan.

the route from barcelona to dusseldorf. the airliner this morning at 6:48 left dusseldorf and went with 228 passengers to barcelona and was punctual there. this airliner then left barcelona at 10:01 with the destination dusseldorf. onboard there were 144 passengers two babies onboard as well and six crew members. two were in the cockpit and four as cabin members. the airliner -- this is our knowledge at this moment in time -- did -- it was supposed to land at 11:00 but at 10:45 it had the height of 10,000 feet so reached that limit at that time. the airliner then left this height after one minute and went straight down and this is our knowledge at this point in time that coming down lasted eight minutes altogether. the airliner had contact to the french radar services and french pilots and that was at 10:53 when the airliner had about the height of 6,000 feet when contact stopped. that was then when the crash happened. as mentioned, the airliner had 144 passengers plus six crew members onboard. the airliner was an airbus a-

the german and spanish authorities since the flight was on a flight path between barcelona and dÜsseldorfwhen it came down. >> it's interesting how the french president has taken complete control of the information concerning this disaster. so far we don't seem to have heard anything from the germans. we haven't heard anything from the airline, apart from the airline is called germanwings a low-cost budget airline owned by lufthansa, the national carrier. we'll be crossing to germany and getting the latest from our correspondent there. jacki, you're saying the french is taking the lead in this. >> this accident happened on french territory obviously the fact that the plane belonged to a german carrier and flying between spain and germany indicates strongly that there would have been at least some spanish and german citizens onboard. it does fall to the french to take the lead to this, because it was near to a french village that the plane has come down. the fact that president francois hollande has responded and come out in public quickly and the fact that he does seem to be taking the le

rosie tompkins is in dusseldorf germany. family have gathered waiting for word about their loved ones. first, erin recovery team have set up a staging area not tar from the crash site. now that we have daylight, what are you expecting? >> reporter: it appears as though the recovery force have resumed. just a short while ago, we saw four helicopters land in the field just behind me. now this was the staging area yesterday for those air efforts. this morning, the spokesperson for france's interior ministry telling cnn affiliate bfm that the recovery effort will commence again today after it had been suspended in the overnight hours due to difficult conditions. now the location of the crash site is proving to be problematic for officials. it's in a remote area. the terrain described as difficult, accessible mainly by air. the site of the crash, local officials say, is in an area that is near a steep mountainside. so causing plenty of problems for the hundreds of police officers and firefighters from france that are participatin

and we go to dusseldorf the destination of this plane. anna have all the families left where you are or are some remaining? >> reporter: we've been here since yesterday and haven't seen any of the families. they've been whisked away where the airline is relaying information from the crash site. it's been a busy morning. for one minute it fell silent where crews gathered and germanwings to remember their colleagues and passengers for a moment of silence, some wiping their eyes and others just looking, thinking. a notice board has now been erected inside the airport and flowers laid some of the americans message messages read flight attendants don't die, they just fly higher. one flight had to be canceled because the crew didn't want to travel refused to fly, due to emotional distress and many lost beloved colleagues. we're hearing more this morning about speculation about one of the mechanical faults fixed just the day before the flight left dusseldorf to fly to barcelona before making that fated return journey. >> this was an old aircraft

cnn's rosie tompkins joins us from dusseldorf with the latest.ople and two teachers go for the educational experience have a cultural exchange and now they are so, so distraught today. >> reporter: yes, christine. an absolute tragedy for the nation. of course 67 people on board, in particular for this town haltern, one of the first towns we know to have had victims on board. 16 students 2 teachers in this exchange program. the mayor has been appearing visibly emotional, talking about how it can be felt throughout town. here at the airport this morning, the normal flight schedule has resumed a day after the crash. there's an atmosphere of calm in the terminal. we've heard from the airport this morning that a condolence book will be laid out for people to sign. but other than that flights resume. there were some cancellations yesterday when members of the crew from germanwings, the airline involved said that they were too shocked and saddened to fly, understandably. but today just one cancellation and other than that a normal schedule. and meanwhil

barcelona to dusseldorf.ncies that we're trying to double and triple check. a plane heading to dusseldorf from barcelonascelona crashed in the alps. possibly 142 people onboard. we're going to follow this story and have much more information for you straight ahead. the volkswagen passat handles like a dream. go ahead... step on it. yeah? yeah! that turbo engine packs a punch, right? oh yeah. pinch me. okay... and on passat models you can get a $1,000 volkswagen credit bonus. one more time. pinch me. it's not a dream. it's the volkswagen stop dreaming, start driving event. stop dreaming, do it again. and test-drive one today. hurry in and you can get 0% apr plus a $1000 volkswagen credit bonus on 2015 passat and jetta models. earning unlimited cash back on purchases. that's a win. but imagine earning it twice. introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back twice, once when you buy and again as you pay. it's cash back. then cash back again. and that's a cash back win-win . the citi double ca

the german relatives left from dusseldorf airport. around 100 people from both groups are to visit the site. they'll go to the small french town, which is now the hub of a major aircraft investigation. as they do so, experts have been pointing out that claims that one of the pilots left the cockpit before the crash are unconfirmed. lufthansa says flight deck procedures, which are in line with german law, do allow crew to leave the cockpit for short periods. back in the german town of hallton, pupils and staff, who lost 16 classmates and 2 teachers, have been holding a minute of silence. today may bring more clues including more details about what's on the voice recorder. lisa hampele, bbc news. >> let's go to our correspondent, anna holligan. how many people left today on what will be an incredibly harrowing journey for them. >> reporter: one of the hardest journeys of their life i imagine. we saw 15 families passing through dusseldorf earlier today. they all looked completely traumatized. some of them are wiping their eyes, others tr

this one, bourse barcelona to dÜsseldorf.could imagine -- he. >> let me just jump in there for a second. let's cross over to the spanish prime minister talking about the crash of that germanwings flight. let's listen in to what he has to say. >> i have spoken to the german chancellor angela merkel and asked for her opinion and advice about how to liase further. i have spoken to the legal representation and informed of events. i am sorry that everyone else is for this tragic accident and we shall do whatever we can to help the family and we will also give as much help as we can to other people. thank you very much for your help. >> all right so that was the spanish prime minister. he was just saying there that he'd spoken to the german chancellor angela merkel on how best to lyase about the crash. if you've just joined al jazeera, let me remind you about the events surrounding this crash. it happened in southern france. we know that the french transport minister confirmed there were no survivors onboard this germanwings plane.

the germanwings flight 9525 wasp en route from barcelona to dusseldorf when it came down. all 150 passengers and crew on board are feared dead. investigators will want to know why the plane wept into an 8 minute descent before crashing. search plagueses near le vernet in france could get tougher as stormy weather is expected. jacky rowland reports. >> in a remote alpine valley the shattered debris of a flight is strewn across the hillside. nobody could have survived a crash like this. in this difficult terrain, retrieving the bodies on board will take days. you can just about make out the workers. crucially, they have found a black box flight recorder. it should provide vital evidence as to why the disaster happened. >> at dusseldorf relatives and friends gathered to receive more information. and to absorb the news. the arrivals board tells the story. giption flights -- germanwings flight 9525 never showed up. it was travelling to dusseldorf but crashed in the french alps near the town of le vernet. this is a film an air bus 320, filmed on a previous flight. the french pre

joining me from the school of the town of haltern outside of dusseldorf is katie.stand other school kids have been gathering as they learn of the news. >> reporter: we are 45 minutes outside of dusseldorf at the high school and we are learning the 16 kids were 10th graders, 16 and 17-year-olds on the plane with two teachers. they were in barcelona for a week in the exchange ploe gram learning about the cult -- program learning about the culture and language. one girl had a cousin on board an the family is in a state of shock. they were all very excited to go to spain and very excited to come home and see family and friends and to hear this news was just completely devastating. right out side of the school a pretty decent growing memorial of candles is being lit on the school steps. you have hundreds of people that have come out to say their prayers and remember those who they've lost. but right now, it is just very confusing time for the students because they don't -- they can't totally wrap their mind around what happened. they had seen reports and didn't think it

the plane was flying from barcelona to dusseldorf. they are based out of cologne but flying into a major, national hub. we have known about the aircraft itself. it's said to be 24 years old. it's been with them since 1991. we haven't heard anything yet, from chancellor merkel. president hollande of france said he will be speaking to her shortly, updating her about the emerging details of the situation. he's going to be keeping the spanish king informed. nothing yet from chancellor merkel. i would imagine we will hear a statement later on particularly given the impact on germany with this number of german victims. lufthansa dropped by 5% as you would expect. we are waiting more details from lufthansa and germanwings. they are aware of the reports. they don't have concrete information. as soon as they get details, they will update us. at the moment we are watching this. it's an emerging situation, but a great deal of shock here. a significant number of germans are on board the flight. >> to touch on this this is still the early stages h

it was headed to dusseldorf germany. just in the spokesperson for the town of haltern, 40 miles from the destination, telling us that 16 students and two teachers from a nearby school were booked on germanwings on this flight but it has not been confirmed they were on the plane. working to confirm that information now. shortly after losing contact with french radar an hour into the flight we know the plane went down crashed here in the foothills of the southern alps, around 10:53 a.m. local time. looking at lives feared gone we want to remind you, we know 6 crew members, 144 passengers were on board, as you mentioned two of those infants, two of them babies. france's president saying the victims were german spanish, turkish. no french were on the flight. the aircraft 24 years old. rather young. and the last routine check on the plane was done yesterday, according to a carrier which by the way has an excellent safety record. as more details of the crash come in tamron condolences surfacing online an outpouring of facebook

tragedy struck en route from barcelona to dusseldorf.eral nationalities on board, but nearly half were german including 16 teenagers returning from a student exchange in spain. >>> u.s. president barack obama says nearly 10,000 u.s. troops will remain in afghanistan through the end of this year. the announcement came as mr. obama met with afghan president ghani in washington. >> the summit originally planned to cut the number of troops by more than 4,000 by the end of this year. however, mr. ghani pushed for a slower troop withdrawal. >> this flexibility reflects on our reinvigorated partnership with afghanistan which is aimed at making afghanistan secure and preventing it from being launched to -- being prepared to launch traffic attacks. >> the flexibility provide for 2015 will be used to accelerate reforms, to ensure that there are national security forces that are much better led, equipped trained, and/or focused on their fundamental mission. >> mr. dejuany is expected to speak before the u.s. congress latered with. let's bring in ou

gathering in two cities barcelona and dusseldorf its destination. both airports tonight, obviously, a heartbreaking scene. carle pennhall joining us now. a lot of things going on. you've been trying to get answers. what are you learning? >> absolutely anderson. we've been tlierying to push lufthansa on a few things. came to a press conference and said this plane was in great working order. it was passed yesterday. but only by phone saying we have heard that maybe the plane was grounded yesterday, and then finally said yes, there was a routine maintenance check and that was clear but also grounded. that very same plane for several hours yesterday because there was a problem with the door around the nose landing gear. what that problem was, well the company still hasn't specified except to say that it was not a safety issue. but that's exactly what it was. fast forward then to this morning. and that plane, again, it was late taking off by about 26 minutes. and again at the press conference this afternoon, we've pushed the lufthansa vice president, why

that's how this flight gets to dusseldorf. what's curious to me this morning is that the plane appeared to start descending. i won't say losing power, no imaginations here. the plane began to descend right there, right there where that purple stons, but just 32 miles away is an 11,000 foot airport. this plane kind for another 102 miles before it finally stopped transmitting data. go there. we know that it crashed. the plane was going up and up and up. went to 38,000 feet. all of a sudden right there what they've been calling all day a controlled descent down here. calling it a controlled descent because the speed stayed the same. if the speed really increases you know it's nose diving and that would be an uncontrolled descent. here's where we are. here's the plane taking off from barcelona. here's the marsellais airport. for a while this was not in the alps. this plane was not in danger in a very high terrain area. this is low terrain. 3,000 feet through here. it was still at about 28,000 feet through here. all of a sudden the

germanwings said we're sorry to confirm the accident on the flight from oh barcelona to dÜsseldorf inthe french alps was an a320 aircraft. onboard were 150 individuals. we have contacted family members of passengers. germanwings and lufthansa are in dipsasness. that's a tweet from germanwings the subsidiary of lufthansa. germanwings, which is a subsidiary of lufthansa, the lufthansa c.e.o. has spoken out about the plane crash saying it's a dark day for his airline. he added my deepest sympathy goes to the family and friends of our passenger and clue on flight 9525. >> joining us for more is dominic cain in berlin. bring us up to date an what you have been hearing in berlin. much of the information has been coming from french authorities because the crash happened in france. what more have they be saying in germany. >> a few updates to give you we expect the c.e.o. of germanwings to give a news conference within the hour. that will be from colon in western germany. we understand the chancellor angela merkel is going to speak about this incident within the next 25 minutes but her foreig

we have headlines out of dusseldorf.ding them off the bloomberg terminal on they are most distressing. brendan: the key is was andr lubitze sick? it appears what they got was an actual physical written evidence that there was some type of psychological illness, but we don't know what it was. tom: the story continues and it no doubt through the weekend on mr. lubitz. let me do a data check on friday. as i've been saying all morning, subtleties to the market. the euro is weaker 110. number of strategists are calling reversal from what we've seen last week. west texas, $50.64 a barrel. yemen having little effect on oil in the last 18 hours. futures churning here this morning. good morning, everyone. "bloomberg surveillance." i am tom keene. with me, brendan greeley today. it is not funny, as syria continues a self implosion sunnis battle shia. saudi arabia bahrain uae, and most south of the arabian peninsula. it is enough to be confused and one -- make one you're for the sympathy of peter o'toole and omar sharif dashing off

in dusseldorf there was an incident with an airbus 321.at the airport there. as it was climbing apparently the plane all of a sudden started for no apparent reason rapidly descending. only by maneuvers of the pilots that the plane was -- managed to stabilize. it continued his flight. they have been made responsible for planes. >> david, you're up. >> it was another airbus craft. these air speeds crystalized. the air speed is called a feto tube. that's outside the aircraft it's a small hole that allows air to go in. the only external pressure there's two of them. the model that's in there was a dash 1 in the air transport 447. they try to get rid of the crystals. they had problems with this. this is when you're flying through crystalized ice in the air, it's big enough and it doesn't enclosing the arteries. you think that the aircraft is slowing down. you have that information and they're looking at information. >> david, one question for you. send communications as well. is it hard to send data? >> yes, it does. there's two models they hav

germanwings flight 9525 from barcelona to dusseldorf had just reached cruise level, 38,000 feet as it sailed high over the french alps. whatever happened next was sudden, and the plane was in an apparently controlled descent from which it never recovered. bits of debris are littered across the remote mountainside where the plane crashed. there is not one intact piece of wing or fuselage, said one official. anguished relatives of the 150 people onboard were told there are not expected to be any survivors. we have a team in place covering this horrible tragedy starting with bill neely in southern france. bill? >> reporter: good evening, lester. this is a crash that has experts baffled. a plane flying apparently normally in good weather that suddenly plummets more than 30,000 feet in ten minutes. unimaginable for those onboard. i'm at rescue headquarters today, high up in these mountains. the search began for clues and for the dead. on a rugged french mountainside in thousands of scattered pieces, the remains of a crashed plane. here and there, rescuers. but there was no one left alive t

it was on a flight from barcelona to dusseldorf. lost contact with the plane at about 6800 feet. it appears the plane was carrying 142 passengers with a crew of six people. german wing is a low-cost carrier owned by germany's flagship airline what times a. it is a short two med -- to medium plane. german chancellor angela merkel has advice for greece's alexis's press. she did not -- alexis tsipras. she did not give indication that greece is getting the emergency paid it needs. george soros us is as the possibility greece leaves the eurozone is a real threat. george soros: europe also pushes theis out of the euro -- would h urt itself. francine: is in a 50/50 possibility? george soros: i would think so, yes. olivia: her interview with george soros coming up later on "bloomberg surveillance." the president of afghanistan is expecting tough questions. he is in a measure -- american educated former world bank official. the obama administration sees him as an improvement over karzai. ghani wants the u.s. to slow down its military withdra

as you probably know, it went down in the french alps on a flight from barcelona to dusseldorf, germany. the plane descending 27,000 feet in nearly 8 minutes and apparently flying straight into the ground. tonight, there is new focus on a key safety feature on airbuses that can sometimes under rare conditions put them into a descent that can hard to stop. airbus knew of the problem, and the european aviation safety agency the equivalent of america's faa issued a warning about it nearly four months ago. rene marsh has been working her sources on this. she joins us momentarily, but first, how this tragedy unfolded. >> reporter: 10:01 a.m., local time, germanwings 9525 takes off from barcelona after a 26 minute delay. flies over the mediterranean and starts to climb. around 10:27, hits cruising altitude after 38,000 feet. just about three minutes later, right around the time 9525 is back overland in france, something goes wrong. loses altitude quickly, a span of about 8 minutes, drops nearly 27,000 feet to 11,400 feet. it's now deep into the french alps. >> you just don't descend. as a pil

the german relatives left from dusseldorf airport. around 100 people from both groups are to visit the site. they'll go to the small french town, which is now the hub of a major aircraft investigation. as they do so experts have been pointing out that claims that one of the pilots left the cockpit before the crash are unconfirmed. lufthansa says flight deck procedures, which are in line with german law, do allow crew to leave the cockpit for short periods. meanwhile, pupils from the german town where 16 classmates and 2 teachers have been lost have been paying their respects at a shrine dedicated to them. today may bring more clues, including more detail about what's on the voice recorder. lisa hamperly bbc news. >> of course so much attention now on that audio recording and the supposedly locked door. our transport correspondent, richard westcott, has been finding out more. >> if a pilot needs to go out, just to go to the toilet for example, then the door is locked. when that pilot wants to come back in they enter in a code on a pad,

at the airport in dusseldorf, anguish, frantic relatives looking for news.he flight was a routinely operated route, only one hour 37 minute flight from barcelona, spain to dusseldorf, germany. on the flight deck, the captain had more than ten years of experience, with 6,000 flight hours. but 44 minutes in to the flight something went wrong. at 10:45 a.m. local time, the plane rapidly descends from a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet at a rate of 400 miles an hour. >> an emergency descent is usually something we do if there is a rapid depressurization at altitude. you can't breathe normally above 27,000 feet even with oxygen masks. so we have to get you down quickly. but you can do an emergency descent for other reasons, smoke in the cockpit, suspected electrical fire and you need to ventilate the cabin and turn off the air conditioners. >> 10:53 a.m. the plane loses contact with french radar. in minutes the plane dropped 32,000 feet. what happened next is a mystery 30 minutes later, french interior ministry officials were on site above the crash. the plane in

lets go to dusseldorf now. this was the original destination of this airbus a320. are there any relatives on board where you were? snoo>> we understand the 67 german passengers came to the airport last night but they were quickly whisked away to a vip area to avoid the glare of the cameras and microphones to receive information and the airlines are making arrangements to take those who wish to travel to the crash site to see the site for themselves. i've just come from the site at dusseldorf and they were holding a moment of silence and announce ing everyone at the airport for a moment of silence and many wipe wiping their eyes. many lost colleagues. in fact one of the germanwings flight had to be cancels this morning. they say the crew members refused to fly due to emotional distress and many lost beloved colleagues in this crash. a notice board has been put up inside the airport and flowers laid and notice attached to this board and one of them reads flight attendants don't die, they just fly higher. thoughts with those 150 people on board here in dusseldorf toda

now to a reporter in dusseldorf. good morning. >> a plane, a charter plane with family members here in dusseldorf left just a few minutes ago as well as a charter plane from spain. both headed to marseilles france with family members on board. they were charter flights and they're going to allow those family members to get as close as they can to the crash site. they cannot go to the crash site itself right now because it's only accessible by helicopter. you can see by the pictures how complicated the area is. we haven't been able to get any access to family members so far. the airline has been keeping them under lock and key, holding them close by in private rooms here at the airport in dusseldorf and in spain and giving them information as they go. with this news about these pilots and this new york times report about one pilot being locked out, you would imagine the good will between the passengers and the airline might be coming to an end. and there might be some disfaction with what's been going on with them. he

mark joins us by phone outside dusseldorf where the hospital is located >> reporter: prosecutors have said today in dusseldorf, the co-pilot of the germanwings plane had a doctor's note that wrote him off sick the day of the crash. it had been torn in pieces. they revealed what the city prosecutors called documents of a medical nature. it should be noted they did not comment at all on the nature of the illness, not even whether it was physiological or psychological. however, there are several newspapers reporting lubitz had been undergoing psychiatric therapy. so not quite a smoking gun but a whiz of gun powder in the air if nothing else. they later confirmed that lubitz had visited the hospital as a patient in february of this year and most recently on march the 10th. they disputed one specific newspaper report saying he had undergone treatment for depression there, however, saying his visit to that clinic were simply for a diagnosis. now dusseldorf prosecutors they said it had been torn up supported a preliminary theory of theirs, namely that the co-pilot had not told his employers

everyone on that flight from barcelona to dusseldorf presumed dead including two babies.ash a mystery. germanwings says the plane descended from its cruising a little tudaltitude for eight minutes before contact was lost and the plane slammed into the mountain. now crews are struggling to recover bodies and wreckage from snow-covered high mountain valley here where that plane went down. i want to bring in now cnn's erin mclaughlin in the recovery staging area that's about six miles from the crash site. good morning, erin. >> reporter: hi christine. well that all-important recovery operation has resumed this morning. this after it had been suspended in the overnight hours due to difficult conditions. now, the airfield you see behind me has been a hive of activity for the past few hours. we've seen a number of helicopters land and then take off again. on board those helicopters are police officials, mountaineering specialists as well as investigators, all heading to that crash site a site that has been problematic for officials. it's in an extremely remote location accessib

barcelona to dusseldorf, germany. plummeting in just minutes. disappearing from radar, silence from the cockpit. disintegrating in the french alps. 150 people now feared dead. these images of the crash scene. that plane in tiny pieces. you can almost make out the name of the airline there. you can see a row of windows in the damage. families of the passengers in shock, gathering at the airport, waiting for official word tonight. on board that plane, families, parents with babies, students headed home after an exchange program. and tonight, there is new word, one of the black boxes has been recovered. we do have team coverage this evening, and we begin with abc's chief foreign correspondent terry moran at the airport in dusseldorf. >> reporter: rescuers on board a helicopter flying high into the alps, searching, hoping for signs of life. but sifting through the wreckage along the rugged ridges of this remote mountain area, some of the debris still smoldering, the plane just obliterated, it was clear. all are lost. scattered among the rocks, parts

katy tur joins me from ducel el-- dusseldorf dusseldorf germany. >> reporter: most of the victims wereies and teachers and finding out how they are feeling. they are upset and laying candles out and having a memorial on the steps of the school and remembering what they can of their friends. 18 people from that school 16 students, two teachers most of them girls, in the 10th grade, as you said 15 and 16-year-olds. and it's a fair -- a fairly small school about 12,000 students and fans quite a few grades. but even if they didn't know them directly they ran into them in the halls. and i asked one student how she felt the school was reacting and she said the school felt empty right now. and spoke to the cousin of one of the victims and she will remember her as a fun girl and helpful and having a great time in spain and looked forward to it and very much looking forward to coming home. and they'll have a moment of silence at that school and tomorrow across the country to remember those lives. and we spoke to the creative director of the dusseldorf opera house which is steps from where i am

we are right outside of andreas lubitz's apartment in dusseldorf germany. these officers came in plain clothes. they were inside for about an hour and a half as i point out, and they walked out, at least one of them was carrying a big box, possibly of even more evidence. there were papers in that box. we don't know exactly what was in there but what we do know is they made that discovery here yesterday. the ripped-up medical note that rene talked about, among other notes that he apparently didn't share with his employer and we also today went to a medical clinic where he apparently visited as recently as march 10th. this medical clinic the dusseldorf university hospital released a statement today saying that he had been there twice in february and in march, but that he was not treated there for depression. the prosecutor's office today would not specify whether his illness was physical or mental. despite these media reports that he was being treated for depression. so that does still remain a mystery. cnn has been speaking to people who knew lubitz. we have

its flight from barcelona in spain to dusseldorf in germany.rning in the alps. >> at least 150 people were onboard. all of them feared dead. families now in several european nations await word about the fate of their loved ones. french authorities are telling reuters news agency that it could take days to recover all of the victims because of the rugged terrain that they are up against. karl penhaul is in barcelona where the flight took off and jim bittermann is in paris. jim, let's begin with you. what's the latest on the search? what are you hearing from french authorities? >> reporter: the french interior minister just arrived in the area in the last hour and he took a flight over the crash area and one of the people onboard his helicopter was a french deputy, a member of parliament. he described the crash scene as covering about four acres of area very mountainous terrain. he said it would be very difficult for the searchers to get in there. they'll have to go in by foot. he said that there was no skien of life at the scene at all and he sa

will ripley is outside of the apartment in dusseldorf, and will is going to join us by phone. give us and a assessment of the situation there now, will. >> well, this is a quiet area, john, and people are astonished by what is taking place here. and of course, the investigators swarmed this area, and removed the evidence, and you have seen the video, and we have heard what was inside of one of the trash bins in andreas lubitz' apartment, and medical notes ripped up, and notes indicating that the 27-year-old who by all accounts was in terrific shapes, and running in marathons, and suffering some sort of an illness, ongoing illness that the doctors were treat iing him for, and again, talking about a young man who physically appears to be in good shape, and you can see where the speculation is going here about the condition, and the illness that he may have been suffering from, and the neighbors around here, john, show that there were no outward signs of what was wrong with this young man, and understandably, people were shocked to see the police here coming here to remove the pi

he's just outside the apartment in dusseldorf germany, where he was living. what do we know about this co-pilot, will? >> reporter: well we know from neighbors and from people who encountered him in this quiet neighborhood about 20 minutes from the town center that he by all accounts at least on the outside appeared to lead a normal life. his apartment continues to be an epicenter of police activity. just tonight we saw prosecutors and investigators bringing out more evidence after they brought out evidence earlier in the day, including those medical records that nic was talking about in his report. but tonight, within the last hour we also got a brand new piece of information from a pizza shop owner in this neighborhood who says that lubitz and a woman that he believes was his girlfriend were very frequent customers who were affectionate who were coming in all the time but then two months ago, it suddenly stopped. here's how he described their behavior. you saw andreas lubitz and who you believe was his girlfriend. you say they came in here a lot. what were

they both live in dusseldorf.apanese prime minister shinzo abe expressed sorrow. >> translator: we are doing our best to gather information on two japanese on the passenger list. it's a catastrophe. i extend my deep condolences to the victims. >> foreign minister fumio kishida said japan is cooperating with other countries on gathering information. u.s. president barack obama spoke to the media. >> it's particularly heartbreaking because it apparently includes the loss of so many children. >> obama said he spoke to german chancellor angela merkel over the phone and offered assistance. he said he also plans to call spanish prime minister mariano rajoy. a spokesperson for the national security council says there are no signs that the crash was the result of terrorism. she said the u.s. has offered assistance to authorities in france, germany and spain. >>> a series of fateal aviation accidents involving commercial airlines made headlines over the past year. some of them involved low-cost carriers that are expanding

very cool conversation between the pilots during the early part of the flight, from barcelona to dusseldorf. then the audio indicated that one of the pilots left the cockpit and could not reenter. the guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and it there is no answer, the investigator said and then he hits the door stronger. and there is never an answer. he said you can hear he is trying to smash the door down. the airbus a320 crashed about an hour after takeoff yesterday morning on a flight from barcelona, spain, to dusseldorf, germany, carrying 144 passengers, and 6 crew members. today we learned three of those passengers were americans. there were no survivors. joining me now by phone, former ntsb board memberer katy higgins. katy, this just was published a few moments ago and we're all just shaking our head at the horror of this. your response? >> yeah, chris, exactly. it compounds what is already a horrific tragedy, and makes this just that much more awful. it is reminiscent in an eerie way of the egypt air crash, where the pilot took the plane, flying from new york to cairo in the

the co-pilot alsos had an apartment in dusseldorf.e two homes and get whatever documentation they can that could give them any type of information that would give them the clue why he took that action. what took for. personal life. passion jerusalem on board on route dusseldorf. >> mention many of some possible jilted girlfriend. do you have any information on that at all. >> no, only information we have is when police left his apartment building in dusseldorf. they said they had information that could be useful to the investigation. as you can imagination, greta, it's been a day where there has been all sorts of information coming out. some people say he was quite a happy go lucky guy. very pleased get this job with the airline. other people saying that he was a bit of a depressive. on top of all of this has been the news that in 2009 six years ago he had to interrupt his pilot training for medical reasons. we still don't know what those medical reasons were. >> >> thank you. >> thank you, greta. morning the -- mourning the loss. the

the airline is called german wings and the flight was on its way from barcelona to dusseldorf. at the german airport today distraught family members wandered through the terminal as they waited for any news about their loved ones. tina kraus has the latest from the crash scene. >> reporter: this is what's left of the commercial airliner that slammed into a mountainside in the french alps. the german wings plane carrying 150 people was about an hour into its flight from barcelona to dusseldorf when it made a sudden rapid descent. french officials say there was no distress call from the airbus a320 as it approached the southern alps plunging 14,000 feet in eight minutes. >> we have to investigate properly with all the professionals what went wrong. >> reporter: a group of 16 high school students and two teachers are among the passengers. family and friends gathered at their call is in jeremy -- school in germany to wait for word on loved ones who were returning from a spanish exchange program. recovery operations will be difficult because the plane crashed in rough terrain in a r

this is something that dusseldorf prosecutors have release. it shows we need to be very careful with somebody who claim they knew and what investigators are officially releasing. yes, you are right in saying that we have found a sick note -- a torn up sick note that shows that he was in a medical treatment and we believe that may have been for medical reasons. of course, we all want and answer and plausible isolation for why something that is so unthinkable happened and with

both are men who live in dusseldorf. one is believed to be g.h. sato.e works for a tokyo-based trading firm. a spokesperson from his office says sato was heading back to dusseldorf as a business trip in spain. >> translator: he's a polite determined and gentle person. everybody in the office trusts him. >> he says the company is sending staff to france to gather information. a group of 16 german high school students was also on the flight. they were returning from a week-long exchange program near barcelona. classmates and parents the school. >> translator: the town is stunned into silence. everyone is shocked. >> translator: this is a small town and people know each other. i cannot believe the news. >> they lit candles and said prayers. >>> it's time now for the latest in business news. securing stable energy supplies has been a top priority for japan since the nuclear accident in 2011. people here are now looking at other sources of energy. ai uchida joins us now from our business desk with all the details. good morning ai. >> good morning, catherine.

since, of course the plane was flying between barcelona, and dusseldorf. we understand there's a number of turkish nationals on the flight as well. they'll come to the village to see how the search operation is going. during the course of the day we are expecting family members of the victims of the crash to arrive in the village. local people are doing everything they can to be prepared to receive them. >> jacky rowland there. thank you very much >>> let's go to germany, the town of halltern where the 16 students and two teachers came from. dominik cane is there. clearly this is not only a school but a community in mourning. >> mourning and in shock. nothing sums up the feeling at the school better than the placard behind me. yesterday we were many today we are alone. and the sense of shock in haltern is mirrored in the newspapers were germany. 150 dead air bus crash in the apps. moving on. shock. moving on to another, which says pretty much the same. 150 dead. and a local newspaper, which repeats 150 dead in the airbus crash, and refers to the town being

they were found inside of the apartment in dusseldorf. of course, because all of this is treated as a crime, and says so in the public prosecutor's statement as well, they said that at the time of the crime, he was not fit to fly. this is a crime scene, so therefore, it is still cordoned off, and there is still going to be a police on the scene there, and still people going in and out of the apartment as well as the house of the family as well as they try to gather additional information presumably when they found these medical record ss, there would have been stated clearly what condition he was suffering from but it would appear that when they questioned the doctor for instance or the fam ly members, they will try to see whether or not it was a condition that he might have had and able to suppress for quite a while, because lufthansa did tell us that they deemed him 100% deemed fit to fly, and they felt that in the flying performance, there weren't any issues that turned up. so maybe he was able to suppress the medical condition or mayb

bound for -- from barcelona bound for dusseldorf. the plane reached a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, it descended for ten minutes. the plane disappeared from french radar when it was at around 6,000 feet. investigators they the descent appeared controlled. >> the curve is compatible with an aircraft controlled by pilots, except for the fact that we can't imagine pilots consciously sending an aircraft into a mountain. but it may also be compatible with an aircraft which is controlled by an automatic pilot. >> reporter: finding the plane's second black box will be critical to unlock the mystery of what brought down the jet. on the flight data recorder, investigators will get a second-by-second breakdown. how the plane's systems were functioning. was everything working, or was there mechanical failure. the status of the search nature critical piece of explain unclear. france's president said this -- >> translator: a second black box is being looked for. the box is outside -- the out frame has been found, but unfortunately not the bla