Haltern observes minute's silence for school victims of Germanwings crash

The German town of Haltern am See has paid tribute to the victims of Germanwings Flight 4U9525. At the Joseph-Koenig High School which lost 16 of its students and two teachers in the crash, a minute’s silence was held at 10.35am, the time at which contact with the A320 was lost on Tuesday. Similar scenes were played out elsewhere in the town and in Germany. The Spanish class – too numerous for all to go to Barcelona – had drawn lots to see who would make the trip. Helmut Buecker, whose daughter was not selected and so was not on the plane, says they held each other and cried when they heard the news. “Here in Haltern we are are very close to everything that has happened. We know almost everybody, through my daughter some of the children or youths who have died. She had them over at our house. So we are emotionally involved in this,” he said. The ceremonies took place before the official revelations that the crash was a deliberate act, leading to the deaths of 150 people.