Search on for bodies, clues

French, Spanish and German leaders yesterday visited a makeshift rescue base near the site of the Germanwings air crash, as investigators stepped up their probe into the mysterious disaster that killed 150.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew over the crash site to see the devastation for themselves before meeting rescue workers outside the crisis centre set up on Tuesday after the worst crash in France in four decades.

Meanwhile, investigators were combing through the pulverised wreckage and examining its badly damaged black box for clues as to what caused the mysterious crash.

The body (L-in case) of Singapore's former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew is transferred atop a gun carriage from the Istana state complex to Parliament House where it will lie in state for public viewing ahead of his funeral, in Singapore, yesterday. Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, one of the towering figures of post-colonial Asian politics, died at the age of 91 on March 23. Photo: AFP

Hundreds of firefighters and police near the hamlet of Le Vernet in the French Alps were involved in the massive task at the rugged crash site, accessible only by helicopter or an arduous hike on foot.

And in Paris, experts analysed one of the plane's black boxes, hoping to discover why the Airbus A320 went down in good weather -- an "inexplicable" disaster according to Lufthansa, the budget airline's parent company.

Officials warned it would take several days to analyse the "very badly damaged" black box data, but hoped it might offer initial clues to the mystery later yesterday.

A second black box, recording technical flight data, has yet to be found.

Authorities are scrambling to explain why the plane suddenly began a fatal eight-minute descent shortly after reaching cruising altitude on its route between Barcelona and Duesseldorf.

No distress signal was sent and the crew failed to respond to desperate attempts at contact from ground control.

Flight 4U 9525 crashed near the French Alpine village of Le Vernet on 24 March, flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf