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Germanwings crash: DNA of 78 victims found

As search of crash site in Alps continues, French authorities announced they are building an access road to the remote spot to aid their task.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Five days after Germanwings flight 4U 9525 crashed in the French Alps killing all 150 on board, investigators say they have isolated DNA of 78 victims, reports the BBC.

However, they denied German media reports body parts of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had been identified.

The cockpit voice recorder suggested he crashed the plane deliberately.

A transcript leaked to German media revealed the frenzied final minutes, with the pilot, locked out of the cockpit, shouting "open the damn door!"

Recovery teams have so far only reached the mountainside on foot or by helicopter to continue the search for human remains as well as parts of the aircraft, including the flight data recorder which is still missing.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said an access road was being built to the remote site.

Mr Robin said work on the road, which would give all-terrain vehicles access to the area, could be completed by Monday evening.

The German newspaper Bild published a transcript of the final minutes of the flight as caught on the cockpit voice recorder. It has not been independently verified.

It shows the captain, who has been named in media as Patrick Sondenheimer, telling Lubitz he was not able to go to the toilet before take off, to which the co-pilot replies he can go at any time.

The captain says "you can take over".

Lubitz, 27, then appears to refuse to let the captain back into the cockpit.

The captain can be heard banging on the door and screaming: "For God's sake, open the door!"

The captain tries to break the door down with an axe. Passengers are then heard screaming as the captain begs again to be let in.

Investigators think there is the sound of the plane's wing hitting a mountaintop before final screams.

Read more of this report from the BBC.