Witnesses told the French Air Force they heard an explosion and saw smoke coming out of the doomed Germanwings’ A320 passenger plane shortly before it crashed into the mountains near Digne, southern France, IBTimes UK can reveal.

A helicopter pilot in the French Air Force based in Orange, 30 minutes away from the site of the crash, told IBTimes UK witnesses in the crash investigation told him “they had heard an explosion and seen smoke”.

The pilot also confirmed that debris was found upstream from the crash site – which he said confirmed the fact that the piece of fuselage had “been detached from the aircraft before impact”.

“The search zone is quite localised, but a piece has been found upstream, which is a bit unsettling,” the pilot said from Orange.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/germanwings-…

Another Witness:
Pierre Polizzi, the owner of a campsite near where the plane crashed, said he heard the plane making strange noises shortly before it disappeared.

“I heard a series of loud noises in the air. There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside, but I couldn’t see any fighter planes,” Polizzi told the Associated Press. “The noise I heard was long, like eight seconds, as if the plane was going more slowly than military plane speed. There was another long noise after about 30 seconds.”

Polizzi said the plane crashed around 3-11 miles (5-8km) north of his camp. “It’s going to be very difficult to get there. The mountain is snowy and very hostile.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015…