This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germanwings-crash-shocked-passengers-stared-silently-at-the-empty-arrivals-gate-10131339.html

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Germanwings crash: Shocked passengers stared silently at the empty arrivals gate Germanwings crash: Shocked passengers stared silently at the empty arrivals gate
(about 4 hours later)
At the two airports there was little sign of the unfolding tragedy. Departure boards slowly changed, passengers milled, and flights steadily departed. Grief and disbelief permeated homes and workplaces as far away as Kazakhstan and Australia on Monday night as stories of the 150 victims began to emerge.
Hours earlier, Germanwings flight 4U 9525 had been delayed when it departed Barcelona for Dusseldorf at a little after 10am local time. It was carrying 150 passengers. Within an hour all of them were killed when the aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain in the Alps. The epicentre of the tragedy was the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium in the small German town of Haltern. Sixteen students and two teachers from the school had been on their way home after a week-long Spanish exchange programme with a school in the village of Llinars del Valles, near Barcelona.
Away from the main terminals yesterday afternoon, the families and friends of the passengers on board the flight were coming to terms with their grief. There would be no survivors, they were eventually told by officials from Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings. As word spread about reports that a plane from Barcelona had gone missing many students began researching online. “And then when the plane didn’t land and they were unable to make contact with their friends and classmates by cell phone, that’s when they assumed the worst had happened,” said Haltern am See mayor Bodo Klimpel, fighting off tears. “The students were informed that there was a sufficient probability that the plane would not be landing in Düsseldorf. Classes were then called off.”
In Barcelona’s El Prat airport, accompanied by airport officials and police, and holding on to each other for support, the families were taken away from the main terminal where the flight had left, to be briefed on what had happened to the Dusseldorf-bound service. They were last night staying in local hotels and may today visit the crash site in southern France.
In Dusseldorf airport, where the ill-fated Airbus 320 had been due to land at lunchtime, grieving parents were being shielded from the press in a VIP lounge where they were offered trauma counselling.
Relatives at Barcelona’s El Prat airport on Tuesday (Reuters) Few details have emerged so far about the Spanish victims. There are said to be 45 of them. Much of the focus has already turned to the Institut Giola, a school in the village of Llinars del Valles, near Barcelona, that early yesterday morning waved goodbye to 16 German teenage students and two of their teachers who had spent the last week on an annual exchange trip.
Marti Pujol, the mayor of Llinars del Valles told the Reuters news agency that the entire village was in a state of shock. “The families knew each other. The parents had been to see them off at six this morning,” he said. At their intended arrival point there were also tears.
Schoolchildren and parents wept and hugged each other outside the Josef-König school in the German town of Haltern. The headmaster at the school summoned the parents of the missing pupils and informed them of what had happened. “It has been an extraordinarily difficult day for us. Everyone is in tears,” said the town’s mayor, Bodo Klimpel. “We will open the school tomorrow, but it won’t be business as usual.
Students gather in front of the Josef-König secondary school in Haltern am See, western Germany, where some of the Germanwings plane crash victims studied (Getty) “It’s the darkest day in this town’s history. We’re in a state of shock. It’s the worst thing ever imaginable.”
“It was a Spanish language exchange programme and they were flying home after having what was probably the most wonderful time of their lives,” said Sylvia Löhrmann, the education minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. “It’s so tragic, so sad, so unfathomable.”
Like many of his classmates Soufjan Ibrhaim, 15, posted a message on his Facebook site. “I am so dead sad,” he wrote. “They were all in my year and a good girlfriend of mine was one of them.”Like many of his classmates Soufjan Ibrhaim, 15, posted a message on his Facebook site. “I am so dead sad,” he wrote. “They were all in my year and a good girlfriend of mine was one of them.”
Among those killed was opera singer Oleg Bryjak, the Deutsche Oper Am Rhein director Christoph Meyer told Associated Press. He was said to have been returning to Germany from a performance. “We have lost a great performer and a great person in Oleg Bryjak. We are stunned,” said Mr Meyer. Though sent home, many pupils returned in the afternoon with candles and tears to mourn with their friends. “It’s the darkest day in this town’s history,” said Mr Klimpel, who added some parents nevertheless drove to the airport and some to the school. “We’re in a state of shock. It’s the worst thing ever imaginable.”
In Barcelona, passengers catching another Germanwings service, to Cologne, were checking-in baggage ahead of their trip yesterday afternoon. Roger Rauw, the Belgian head of group of 54 teachers who had spent a week in Barcelona, said that he had only learnt of the crash from worried family members at home. “Our families saw what happened on television and were obviously worried, but we are very happy to get the flight back – the whole group is happy to catch the flight.” Two opera singers were also among the dead. Contralto Maria Radner, who had performed all over the world including the Metropolitan Opera in New York and theatres in Milan and Buenos Aires, was on the plane with her husband and baby. She had just finished performing in the Richard Wagner opera Siegfried at Barcelona’s Liceu. Fellow performer Oleg Bryjak from Kazakhstan, who interprets Alberich in the opera, is also thought to have perished.
Asked whether she was still happy to travel, a German tourist, Heike Goettlicher and her husband said that they were confident about catching their Germanwings flight back to Stuttgart. “This is not a day to be happy, but we have no problems about catching the plane.” Two of the victims, Oleg Bryjak and Maria Radner Two Australians – a woman and her adult son from Victoria – were also on the plane. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this shocking tragedy,” Australia’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, said.
Shocked passengers at the airy glass domed Dusseldorf airport stared at the empty arrivals gate where the passengers Barcelona had been due to arrive. Instead they found it surrounded by news television crews. “This is awful, this sort of thing is not meant to happen to German planes, I feel for the families,” said Karen Netthausen, a retired teacher who was returning from holiday in Turkey. Last night the Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond, said it was “likely” that at least one British national had been on board.
At El Prat international the departure and arrival boards were full again last night. They included three Germanwings flights that were scheduled to leave Barcelona, behind schedule. There were delays, as there had been in the morning, when flight 4U 9525 departed. Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio, from the Pyrenees city of Jaca in Huesca, travelling with her seven-month-old baby and Polish husband was also on the flight. Local paper El Periodico de Aragon said the 37-year-old woman lives in Manchester but had returned to Spain for her uncle’s funeral.
Students gather in front of the Josef-König secondary school in Haltern am See, western Germany, where some of the Germanwings plane crash victims studied (Getty) Forty-five of the other passengers were Spanish, including two babies. They included a  father-of-four, and three generations from the same family – a schoolgirl, her mother and her grandmother – who lived in Sant Cugat near Barcelona.
One person each from the Netherlands, Turkey, and Denmark were among the victims, their governments said, while the Mexican government was still trying to confirm whether one of its nationals was on board.
At Barcelona’s El Prat airport the families were taken away from the main terminal to be briefed. They spent last night at local hotels and may visit the crash site in France today.
At Düsseldorf airport, where the Airbus 320 had been due to land at lunchtime, grieving family members were being shielded from the press in a VIP lounge where they were offered trauma counselling. Shocked passengers at the airy glass-domed Düsseldorf airport stared at the empty arrivals gate where the passengers from Barcelona had been due to arrive.
“This is awful, this sort of thing is not meant to happen to German planes, I feel for the families,” said Karen Netthausen, a retired teacher who was returning from holiday in Turkey.
Relatives at Barcelona’s El Prat airport on Tuesday (Reuters) In Barcelona, passengers catching another Germanwings service, to Cologne, were checking-in baggage ahead of their trip yesterday afternoon. Marcel Hemmeldr said he felt “very strange” to check in for Germanwings’ evening flight to Düsseldorf.
“The people were standing at the same place where we’re standing now ... now they’re not there any more. So it’s a strange feeling, a really strange feeling,” he said. “I feel sorry for everybody in Germany. All the people there who have lost some family members.”
At El Prat international the departure and arrival boards were full again last night.