More details of the final moments of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 have emerged as
investigators find the DNA of more than half the victims of the crash.
A summary of the transcript of recordings from the voice recorder on board the aircraft reveals co-pilot Andreas Lubitz began the descent after the captain left to cockpit.
In the transcript, published by German newspaper Bild, the captain apologises to passengers for a delay on leaving Barcelona.
He then tells Lubitz he has not had time to go to the toilet before departure, to which the co-pilot replies he can go "at any time".
After completing mid-flight checks for landing, Lubitz then tells the captain, named in reports as Patrick Sondheimer, that: "You can go now."
Minutes later the captain leaves the cockpit, saying: "You can take over."
The click of the cockpit door closing can then be heard.
But shortly afterwards there is a loud bang, believed to be the sound of someone trying to enter the cockpit, followed by the captain shouting "For God's sake, open the door!"
There are then repeated blows to the cockpit door, thought to have been made by an axe or crow bar.
An automated warning triggers in the cockpit as the plane continues to descend, saying: "Terrain. Pull up."
The pilot can then be heard shouting: "Open the damn door."
The right wing of the aircraft then clips a mountain and the final sounds are those of passengers screaming, Bild reports.
French officials say the plane's black box voice recorder indicates Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit of the Airbus jet and deliberately crashed the plane.
Investigators have so far been unable to find the aircraft's second black box which would provide technical flight data on its final moments.
All 150 people on board the Germanwings plane, which was flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, were killed in the crash in southern France on Tuesday.
French prosecutors said the DNA of 78 people of those on board have been identified.
But investigators have described the difficulty of the search for victims and the second black box as "unprecedented" because of both the mountainous terrain and the violence of the impact.
"We haven't found a single body intact," said Patrick Touron, deputy director of the French police's criminal research institute.
"We have slopes of 40 to 60 degrees, falling rocks, and ground that tends to crumble.
"Some things have to be done by abseiling. Since safety is key, the recovery process is a bit slow, which is a great regret," he added.
Mr Touron added: "In catastrophes, normally around 90% of identifications are done through dental records", but in the case of Flight 4U 9525, DNA would most likely to play a greater role than normal.
Lubitz had been given a sick note on the day of the crash, but the note was never submitted to Germanwings.
Dusseldorf University Hospital said he had been evaluated at its clinic in February and on 10 March, but did not comment on why he was being treated because of patient privacy laws.
Police found medicines for the treatment of psychological conditions during searches of the 27-year-old's home in Dusseldorf and officials told the New York Times he had sought treatment for vision problems.
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Source of News- Sky News
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