Prosecutors: Co-pilot treated for suicidal tendencies
By LORI HINNANT and JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press
Mar 30, 2015 8:46 AM CDT
Rescue workers, left, work at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, Monday, March 30, 2015. European investigators are focusing on the psychological state of a 27-year-old German co-pilot who prosecutors say deliberately flew a Germanwings plane carrying 150 people into a mountain, a French...   (Associated Press)

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 that crashed into the French Alps last week had received treatment for suicidal tendencies several years ago, prosecutors said Monday.

Duesseldorf prosecutors say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 27, had received psychotherapy "with a note about suicidal tendencies" for several years before becoming a pilot.

"In the following period, and until recently, further doctor's visits took place, resulting in sick notes without any suicidal tendencies or aggression against others being recorded," prosecutors' spokesman Ralf Herrenbrueck said in a written statement.

Authorities believe, based on data from the plane's cockpit voice recorder, that Lubitz locked his captain out of the cockpit and ignored his pleas to open the door while manually sending the plane into a fatal descent on what should have been a routine flight.

Prosecutors said they have so far found no indication of a motive that might have prompted Lubitz's actions, nor any sign of a physical illness.

Asked about reports that Lubitz had problems with his vision, Christoph Kumpa, another spokesman for the Duesseldorf investigators, said there was no documentation showing that Lubitz had any physical ailment affecting his sight.

All 150 people on board were killed when the Airbus A320 plane flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf slammed into a French mountain on March 24.

___

Keaten reported from Paris. Geir Moulson and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

See 3 more photos