French President Francois Hollande said today it would soon be possible to identify the victims of the Germanwings plane disaster, as insurers said hundreds of millions of dollars were being set aside to cover compensation for their families.
With search teams continuing to scour the crash site in the French Alps under arduous conditions, Hollande said on a one-day visit to Berlin that identifying the 150 people on board Flight 4U9525 would help allow the families to grieve.
"The interior minister (Bernard Cazeneuve) has confirmed that by the end of the week, it would be possible to identify all the victims thanks to the DNA samples taken and to this exceptional scientific work," Hollande said.
Questioned by AFP, the French interior ministry later said that the hope was for the DNA of all the victims to have been collected by the end of the week.
The French president was speaking at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel following a joint meeting of their two cabinets.
Merkel reiterated her thanks to France for its help in dealing with the disaster which happened a week ago as the Airbus A320 flew from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.
Half of the victims were German -- at least 50 were also from Spain -- and Merkel also praised the work of rescuers in the remote mountainous terrain, as well as the way local people had helped the victims' families.
The remainder of the victims were a mix of more than a dozen other nationalities.
A local regional official from the crash area Patricia Willaert told reporters today that more than 450 relatives had made their way to the crash area so far.
