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A rescue worker is lifted into an helicopter at the crash site. AP/Press Association Images

"We haven't found a single body intact" - French Alps rescuers finding remains

Between 400 and 600 pieces of remains have been recovered.

FRENCH POLICE WORKING to recover remains from the Germanwings crash site say so far they have recovered between 400 and 600 pieces of remains from the 150 people who died in Tuesday’s plane crash.

Speaking from the French Alps town of Seyne-les-Alpes, Col. Patrick Touron of the gendarme service said “we haven’t found a single body intact.”

He also said DNA samples have been taken from objects provided by the victims’ families, such as toothbrushes, that could help identify the victims.

Touron also said jewellery and other objects could help in the identification process.

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz is believed to have deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.

German police say Lubitz hid a sick note on the day the Airbus A320 crashed into a mountainside, adding that he attempted to conceal mental health issues from his employers.

An American who lost relatives in the EgyptAir disaster also says he has also reached out to families of the Germanwings plane victims offering support to give them support.

Jim Brokaw founded the Families of EgyptAir 990 as a support group after losing his father and stepmother in the 1999 crash, caused by a co-pilot who is believed to have intentionally flown the jet into the ocean.

Brokaw says he has reached out to Germanwings families over Facebook, offering to provide them any help he can based upon his experience dealing with such a tragedy.

“I want people to know they’re not alone,” he said, adding that after such a crash, families can be deluged with information and questions.

“It’s disorienting, it’s literally unspeakable — there are no words for expressing the total loss.”

Read: Police search home of co-pilot who’s believed to have crashed plane >

Read: Video shows how cockpit door on crashed Germanwings plane works >

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Associated Foreign Press
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