Hollande, Merkel, Rajoy arrive near French Alps crash site

March 26, 2015 | 14:47

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French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy arrived near the site of the German airliner that crashed in the French Alps.

A video screen grab shows search and rescue personnel making their way through the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne-les-Alps. (Photo: AFP/Ministere De L'interieur)

SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France: French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy arrived near the site of the German airliner that crashed in the French Alps.

The three leaders, looking sombre and dressed in black, met rescue workers and police outside the crisis centre set up in the wake of Tuesday's disaster, in which 150 people were killed.

French television reported that Hollande and Merkel had flown briefly in a helicopter over the accident site, where the debris of the Germanwings plane is littered across a hard-to-access mountain. Joined by Rajoy, who arrived by car, the leaders shook hands with a line of emergency workers who have been scrambling to find answers to the mysterious crash.

Authorities so far have no explanation as to why the Airbus A320 crashed on its journey from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, killing everyone on board in the worst plane crash on France soil in decades. A black box has been found and is being analysed in Paris.

AFP

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