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European Leaders Respond to French Alps Plane Crash; Germany Grieves Loss of 16 Students on Germanwings Flight; Imagine a World. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 24, 2015 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[15:00:11] CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: Tonight: scenes of total obliteration as a plane crashes in the furthest reaches of the French Alps.

The flight took off for Dusseldorf from Barcelona, the capital of the Catalan region. And I speak to the president of Catalonia, Artur Mas.

Plus we'll go live to Barcelona and Dusseldorf airports, where families are gathered desperately awaiting word of the fate of their loved ones.

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AMANPOUR: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour. And we begin, of course, with the tragedy in the

French Alps, a plane crash so total that little bits are literally strewn all over the peaks and valleys.

Rescue teams scrambling to get to this remote location can't reach it by road and so according to French television, some responders may have to ski

to the crash site.

Helicopters are also being used for search and recovery because there is no rescue possible. Authorities say all 150 on board have perished. And now

French authorities say one flight data recorder has been found.

It all began earlier this morning when a Germanwings flight, Lufthansa's budget airline for short hops, crashed as it was flying from Barcelona,

Spain, bound for Dusseldorf in Germany. The airline's CEO says less than an hour after takeoff, air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane

and then they sent out an alert when they saw the plane start to descend rapidly from its cruising altitude.

The Belgian foreign ministry tells CNN one of the passengers was from that country and the Spanish prime minister says many of the victims were

German, Spanish and Turkish.

So we go now to Karl Penhaul. He is live at Barcelona Airport for us this hour.

Karl, it just must be such a sad scene at the airport there.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It absolutely is a sad feeling talking to some of the passengers that were booked onto a later Germanwings flight to

Stuttgart and also to Dusseldorf. They told me, "I can't believe I'm standing here now," where only hours earlier passengers were also standing,

doing their routine check-in and now, of course, they're dead.

Now behind me over there, that is where the crisis center has been set up by Spanish aviation authorities and by Lufthansa to look after friends and

relatives who've been coming to the airport throughout the day to try and get first-hand information about what has happened to their loved ones.

They've been treated by a medical forensic team, who've taken DNA swabs from them so that that can be compared to the remains of any of the

passengers that may be found. And now those relatives are being taken off by bus or by taxi to three hotels around Barcelona Airport. They will

spend the night there, accompanied by medical staff and also by psychologists to get them help.

And then in the morning, they will come back to the airport and it's then that Lufthansa will decide whether perhaps to fly them out towards the

crash site so that they can be closer to the recovery effort to find out more.

Now in terms of the nationalities that were on board that flight, Christiane, we know that Germans and Spanish were on board the flight. But

Lufthansa says that so far they cannot give the breakdown of exact numbers. Also there may be many other nationalities on that flight; Barcelona, after

all, is a very cosmopolitan city and also the final thing I want to add is in the last few moments we've had a briefing by the Catalonia regional

police and I asked that spokesman whether any anti-terrorist units were involved in the investigation on the Spanish end. His response to that was

a categorical no. Right now all authorities are focusing on helping the families of those passengers -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: And Karl, it does seem that the -- certainly the CEO of Germanwings, of Lufthansa, are ruling out the notion of terrorism right

now. They're talking about a terrible accident that's happened.

You know, these family members who want to get as close as they can to find out what happened to their relatives, how do they think, how do you think

they're going to get there?

It's probably one of the most remote crash sites that we know of in recent times.

It looks like we've lost our connection with Karl Penhaul there in Barcelona. But we obviously heard most of what he had to say about the

families gathering there and the help that some people are trying to get from the authorities.

[15:05:07] And Barcelona, where that flight took off, is the capital of Catalonia. And earlier I spoke to the president of that region, Artur Mas.

It's his first international interview since the plane crash and amidst organizing help for the desperate families and providing medical, forensic

and support teams to the crash site, he joined me from the presidential palace there in Barcelona.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Mr. President, thank you for joining me. And of course we are all very, very sorry about this huge loss.

Can you tell me what exactly you're able to do for these grieving and desperate families right now?

ARTUR MAS, CATALAN REGIONAL PRESIDENT: Well, the first thing, of course, is to convey our most sincere condolences to the families of the victims

and the Catalan government is cooperating with the Spanish government and the French government to organize everything; for instance, to make

available to the families the transportation to France or to provide medical doctors or psychologists, everything needed in these circumstances

and in these cases.

AMANPOUR: Can you tell us a little bit more about who the Spanish passengers were?

Do you know at all who the families were?

MAS: Well, in fact, the list is not still public. So there are some speculations in the sense. But we know for certain that some persons, some

people were there; Spanish people, Catalan people. We are in touch with some families but the complete list is not available at this time because

the company, the Germanwings company didn't give the publicity to this list.

AMANPOUR: It's obviously an incredibly shocking thing that happened and it's a very hard to reach location.

I understand people are traveling there. Your officials are traveling there.

Are you going there?

And how will you actually get to the site?

MAS: In fact, this morning, when we knew that the accident had happened, I decided to send the vice president of the Catalan government to France, to

the side of the accident. I know that she is traveling to France right now. The minister of domestic affairs and the Catalan minister of

territory went to the airport of Barcelona to help everybody and to coordinate everything.

And personally, I will go to the site of the accident, to France tomorrow morning. Together, with the Spanish prime minister, Mr. Rajoy, I was in

touch with Mr. Rajoy this afternoon and we decided to go together to France. And I know that we will coincide there with Chancellor Angela

Merkel and President Hollande (ph) affected in Germany, where many of the multivernalia vespalia (ph).

AMANPOUR: It's obviously a big act of solidarity for you to go with the prime minister Rajoy.

How will you actually get there because it is so remote? They're saying you can't reach by road; it's only maybe helicopters, maybe even skiing as

far as one can.

How will you get to the site?

MAS: This is something, Christiane, I don't know right now. I don't know because as you said, it is not easy to get there. But I'm sure that

tomorrow we will find a way to get there, easiest way and try to know the reality of what happened and to have a better knowledge of what happened

with this accident.

AMANPOUR: What about the black box?

We understand from the company that at least one of the black boxes has been found and the company's ruling out terrorism or at least it's saying

it was an accident.

Are you also getting that message?

Is that what you're hearing as well?

Do you have other suspicions?

MAS: No, we don't have other suspicions so this is the right message. We also got during the day. So this is what we know right now.

AMANPOUR: Will Spain help in the recovery?

And how?

MAS: Spain and Catalonia are going to help in this recovery. But of course the first thing is to help the families of the victims. This is

what we are doing right now. This is the first priority we have. And after that, just after that, we will help the recovery together with the

French authorities.

[15:10:06] AMANPOUR: And how did you learn of this?

And what did you do immediately as you heard what happened?

MAS: As a matter of fact, there was a meeting of the Catalan cabinet, this morning like every Tuesday. And while we were meeting in the cabinet,

well, there was this news and very quickly we decided to ask the vice president to go to France to be in touch with the French authorities and to

ask also two ministers of the Catalan government to go to the airport of Barcelona to -- well, to be close to the families of the victims and

basically to organize all the different things that are specifically needed in these circumstances.

AMANPOUR: It's obviously a huge shock, not just for you and your country but for all the other nations that have been touched by this, with their

nationals.

What is the sense around your office, around Catalonia in Spain today?

How are people taking this and feeling?

MAS: As you can perfectly understand, we are very sad. We are very upset. This has been the worst accident in the last years, in our country and in

Europe, since the accident of the Concorde in the year 2000.

So we are really shocked by this accident. But as I said before, our first and only priority right now is to be close to the families of the victims.

This is what we have to do now.

AMANPOUR: I know you have a huge amount of work to get to. Thank you so much for giving us this time, Artur Mas, president of Catalonia, thank you

for joining me tonight.

MAS: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And as this tragedy that's affecting Spain as well as France, Germany and Turkey and maybe other countries, too, as it was happening, the

new Spanish king was making a state visit to France. He was going to also pay tribute there at a memorial for World War II dead; instead, with the

queen standing by his side, he paid somber tribute to all the dead today aboard the Germanwings flight.

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KING FELIPE VI, SPAIN (through translator): We wish to express our heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones today.

We also wish to express our condolences to the German and Turkish authorities for today's victims.

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AMANPOUR: And after a break, we turn to the desperate wait in Germany on the ground in Dusseldorf, the destination of those passengers, when we come

back.

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[15:15:00] AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

There were tearful scenes at Dusseldorf Airport in Germany also tonight, where the families of the passengers on board the fateful Airbus flight

that crashed in the French Alps earlier today are anxiously awaiting news. Again, a Germanwings airliner flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf went down

earlier today with at least 150 people on board. It is feared that more than a dozen of them are German schoolchildren and dressed all in black,

the German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered these words of condolence.

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ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): My thoughts are with those people who have lost somebody. There are many Germans among

them. This suffering is incredible of the families. We will do everything to get the help that they need in these difficult hours.

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AMANPOUR: And our Fred Pleitgen is live in Dusseldorf for us now, and he joins me from there.

Fred, what are you seeing?

What are you getting to hear at the airport there?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly it's a scene here of a lot of sadness, of course, Christiane. As you said, many of the

relatives and friends of people believed to be on that flight are coming here right now. There's actually a crisis center inside the Dusseldorf

airport where people are getting psychological counseling if they need. The same thing is also happening, by the way, at Barcelona Airport as well.

So the airline itself, Germanwings as well as Lufthansa, which is the parent company of Germanwings, are doing their best to try and manage this

situation right now. And also of course to get information for these people as well.

And you said one of the big tragedies within this giant tragedy is the fact that apparently at least 16 schoolchildren were also on that plane as well

as two teachers as well. They come from a town that's about 150 kilometers north of where we are right now. It's called Haltern. And in that town

earlier today, the mayor made a statement; of course, they're in shock as well. Let's have a listen to what he had to say.

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BODO KLIMPEL, MAYOR OF HALTERN, GERMANY (through translator): First of all, I would like to express our dismay. The whole city is shocked and we

can feel it everywhere. At the moment, all relatives of the victims are taken care of by psychologists and carers. Our thoughts are, of course,

with all of the relatives and friends of the victims.

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PLEITGEN: So a lot of sadness there, a lot of despair, also of course, so, Christiane, at this point in time, still a lot of uncertainty for many

people. They want answers as to what exactly happened, how this could happen. And we also know that Angela Merkel, for instance, is going to

head down to the area of the crash site tomorrow. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister as well. They are obviously also -- have pronounced

their condolences to the family members of those who were killed. So certainly this is a tragedy that really is gripping this country --

Christiane.

AMANPOUR: Let me ask you first and foremost again about these children, the education minister, one of the regional ministers, has said that they

were on a exchange program.

Do you know anything about what they were doing, these kids?

PLEITGEN: Yes. Well, you're absolutely right. They were on an exchange program. That exchange program lasted for one week. So they were only

there for seven days. It wasn't a long exchange program, but it's a typical sort of school exchange that you'll find in many places in Europe.

They were on their way back from that -- not exactly clear what they were doing on that exchange program. But it is something that obviously was a

big event in their lives. And they were just returning from that when that incident happened -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: And Fred, the little snippet of the interview you showed with the mayor, he just looks so distraught and you can understand why.

But what about in general, the idea of aviation security? It's something that -- I mean, Germany is -- really puts a huge amount of stock in and it

is very well known for.

PLEITGEN: It's.

Absolutely. And it's one of the things that really I have to say is -- makes the shock to this country even bigger than with pretty much any other

thing that could have happened, because one of the things that was always a big selling point for companies like Lufthansa -- for Germanwings as well -

- was their safety track records.

I know many people in Germany would be willing to pay more money for a Lufthansa airline ticket or a Germanwings airline ticket simply because of

the safety track record of this company.

[15:19:57] :Of course, we know that Germanwings is a company that had all its planes serviced by Lufthansa because it is a direct subsidiary of that.

And so certainly this is something that really hits to the bone of the German aviation industry. And you can tell that by the responses that

we've gotten from Lufthansa and Germanwings as well. They say their priority at this point in time is to find out exactly what happened. They

say they're going to do everything they can to be able to find out what happened as fast as possible.

So you can tell that they've been hit very deeply and this is certainly something that really is causing a lot of questioning here in this country

and this is causing a lot of people to reevaluate how they feel about the aviation industry here.

AMANPOUR: And one of those black boxes, we're told, has been found. And that specific kind of plane, that specific Airbus has an amazing safety

record.

What do you know, if anything, at this moment, about how people like Chancellor Merkel are actually going to get to the crash site, which is so

difficult to get to?

And how they're going to recover the bodies and is there a -- where they're going to go to, at least German nationals?

PLEITGEN: Well, it's a very long and very difficult process. That's one of the things that we heard from the French authorities that are on the

scene there. Of course, they say that the crash site is in an area that's somewhere between 2,000 and 6,500 feet in the air. So it's a very

mountainous terrain. It's also very averse weather at this point in time. There's also going to be averse weather there in the coming days as well.

There's a lot of snow cover also, certainly from the first pictures that we've seen. It certainly is a place that looks like very rugged terrain.

The earliest statements that we've gotten from the investigators is that they say that at this point in time, it's mostly helicopters that are going

to be able to go there. They're obviously going to try and recover as many bodies as possible. But it is going to be a very, very difficult and a

very long process because, of course, it's not only about recovering the human remains, but in the end it's also about identifying all of the bodies

as well. And certainly at some point the German bodies are obviously going to be repatriated here to Germany. Also a lot of Spaniards apparently on

that plane as well. They're going to be repatriated as well.

But it certainly is going to be a difficult process. It's unclear how Angela Merkel plans to visit that site there, whether or not she's going to

take a helicopter to or how she plans to get there, whether or not there's going to be some other staging area. But certainly, if you look at what

the rescue crew that's there are doing, all the indications that we're getting is that this is a very, very difficult area to get to, even though

we know that those mountains there, in the south of France, they are very densely populated areas. So there's a lot of villages there. However, it

is so high up, the altitude there is so high there's still so much snow cover.

I mean, keep in mind, right now it's still one of the main skiing seasons around Easter. So there is still a lot of snow in those mountains.

There's a lot of averse weather. And that's going to make the recovery very, very difficult. That's certainly something that the authorities are

telling us and that politicians are telling us as well -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much, so much heartbreak for so many people.

And of course, as Fred says, there's a lot of snow on those high, high peaks. There's also, as we can see in the video, valleys where the snow

has melted and maybe that helps a little bit with the intense search, but a very, very difficult place to get to and a dark day for so many families

and friends.

And Germanwings is paying its respects to victims by darkening its own logos from its usual vibrant orange to black and white.

The German football team is also paying tribute. The world champions tweeting that they'll wear black ribbons for their game tomorrow.

After a break, we too remember the victims. Imagine a world host to yet again another aviation disaster -- when we come back.

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[15:26:52] AMANPOUR: And a final thought tonight for those on board that Germanwings flight, as we've said Lufthansa and its budget carrier,

Germanwings, dimmed their logo in memory of the 150 people who are presumed to have died in the crash.

A mix of people from Spain, Germany, Turkey and other nations and two of the passengers were only babies. Sixteen of those on board are believed to

be high school children from this school in Haltern, Germany, as we reported with our Fred Pleitgen. They were returning home after an

exchange in Spain.

A candlelit vigil was held today outside their school. For the families, it is a waking nightmare as they wait for their loved ones to eventually

return home and to be laid to rest.

Imagine a world so many families and friends haunted by the specters of MH370, MH17 and AirAsia and now this, the deadliest air crash in France in

more than three decades.

That is it for our program tonight. Remember you can always see the whole show online at amanpour.com, and follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Thank

you for watching and goodbye from London.

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