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Bodies of 30 Spanish victims in Germanwings crash flown back to homeland

Xinhua, June 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

The bodies of 30 Spanish victims of Germanwings flight 4U9525, which crashed killing all 150 people onboard after being deliberately flown into the Alps by copilot Andreas Lubitz on March 24, were finally returned to their homeland on Monday.

The remains were flown into Barcelona, which had been the point of departure of flight 4U9525, in a specially chartered MD11 aircraft operated by Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings.

The bodies were then handed over to the families, although some of the bodies will be handed over on Tuesday.

A total of 51 Spaniards died in the tragedy but Lufthansa explained that not all of the bodies were on Monday's flight because, "depending on the wishes of the families, the coffins of some of the victims will be transported to other destinations."

The repatriation of bodies is expected to be completed by the end of this month, while the French Judge, Brice Robin, confirmed on Thursday that the human remains which had not been able to be identified would be buried in a "collective grave," in Vernat, close to the site of the crash. Endit