Summary

  • Search and recovery efforts on Wednesday 25 March in the French Alps, after a Germanwings plane crashed a day earlier with 150 people on board

  • Airbus 320 Flight 4U 9525 was travelling between Barcelona and Duesseldorf

  • The aircraft's black box voice recorder has been recovered and contains a 'usable audio file'

  • The casing of the second box - the flight data recorder - has been found, but not its contents

  • Memorial services being held as mourning for the victims begins

  • Among the dead are believed to be 72 German nationals and at least 51 Spaniards

  • Citizens of the UK, Australia, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Denmark, the Netherlands, the USA and Belgium were also on board

  • French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy have visited the crash site

  1. Postpublished at 13:53 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    President Hollande has praised the rescue workers who are working to retrieve bodies and wreckage from the hard-to-reach crash site. Debris has been scattered across a large area of mountainous terrain.

  2. Postpublished at 13:47 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    Marina Bandres Lopez BelioImage source, Unknown

    The husband of one of the victims said he was "devastated" after she and their baby son died in the Germanwings crash.

    Marina Bandres Lopez Belio, 37, who was originally from Spain but lived in Manchester, died alongside seven-month-old Julian Pracz-Bandres.

    Her husband Pawel Pracz "We have been living in Manchester for seven years. Marina was an editor and colourist, and we were both working in post-production for film and video.

    "Marina was visiting her family in Spain for her uncle's funeral, she bought the tickets at the last moment, and decided to return to Manchester quickly as she wanted to return to her daily routine as soon as possible. I'm with my closest family in Manchester, and in close contact with our family in Spain at this very difficult time."

  3. Postpublished at 13:32 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    Merkel, Hollande and Rajoy

    Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is also meeting with investigators at the scene now, alongside President Hollande and Chancellor Merkel.

  4. Postpublished at 13:29 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    Another British victim has been named as Paul Andrew Bramley. The 28-year-old from Hull was studying hospitality and hotel management at Ceasar Ritz College in Lucerne, Switzerland. He had taken a few days holiday in Barcelona and was flying back to the UK, via Duesseldorf, to see his family.

    His mother Carol, who lives in Majorca but had travelled to the UK to meet her son, said: "Paul was a kind, caring and loving son. He was the best son, he was my world."

    This is an undated image of Paul Andrew Bramley who died in the Germanwings plane crash provided by his family on 25 March, 2015Image source, AP
  5. Postpublished at 13:24 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    President Hollande and Chancellor Merkel are meeting search and rescue teams during their visit.

    Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel
  6. Postpublished at 13:20 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    The two leaders are to be joined by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy later.

  7. Postpublished at 13:20 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have arrived in Seyne-les-Alpes, near the crash site.

  8. Postpublished at 13:15 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    Search and rescue personnel make their way through to the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320.

    shows search and rescue personnel making their way through the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320Image source, AFP
  9. Postpublished at 13:15 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    French police and rescue teams set up a temporary shelter near the site of the Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps.

    French police and rescue teams set up a temporary shelter near the site of the Germanwings plane crash in the French AlpsImage source, Getty Images
  10. Postpublished at 13:07 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    British businessman Martyn Matthews, from Wolverhampton, was among the victims of the crash, PA reports. The 50-year-old father of two grown-up children is thought to have been travelling to Germany for a business meeting.

  11. Postpublished at 13:07 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott said: "The cockpit voice recorder 'black box' is pretty battered but the devices are bomb-proof, literally, so investigators should still be able to listen to what happened on board.

    "The large, orange cylindrical part in the middle holds the memory boards that record the pilots' voices, and that looks intact to me.

    "The critical question now is, were the pilots speaking during those lost eight minutes when the aircraft dropped from 38,000ft to the ground?"

  12. Postpublished at 13:03 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    British Prime Minister David Cameron has also been speaking about the tragedy. Addressing MPs at Prime Minister's Questions, he said: "It is heartbreaking to hear about the schoolchildren, the babies, the families whose lives have been brought to an end."

    David CameronImage source, PA
  13. Postpublished at 12:59 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    US President Barack Obama has expressed his condolences to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a phone call, the US Embassy in Madrid said. The president also offered assistance from American officials as the investigation into the crash continues.

  14. Postpublished at 12:55 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    French interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet tells reporters that air crash investigators are "not in a race against time".

    "We need to move forward methodically," he was quoted by AFP as saying.

  15. Postpublished at 12:47 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    Tributes of flowers, candles and teddy bears are growing outside Cologne Bonn Airport, the headquarters of Germanwings.

    Tributes at Cologne Bonn airportImage source, Reuters
  16. Postpublished at 12:46 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    Spain has declared three days of national mourning for the victims and a minute's silence has been held for the victims, one of many moments of reflection taking place across Europe.

  17. Postpublished at 12:42 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    Here is another image of the cockpit voice recorder released by French civil aviation authority BEA, showing the damage it sustained in the crash.

    Cockpit voice recorderImage source, Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses
  18. Postpublished at 12:37 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2015

    Employees of Barcelona's El Prat airport take pictures of a wreath of flowers displayed in honour of the victims of the crash.

    Employees of Barcelona's El Prat airport take pictures of a wreath of flowers displayed in honour of the victims of the crashImage source, AFP