Germanwings Pilot Reached Out to Dozens of Doctors

Andreas Lubitz may have been seeking advice for an 'undisclosed ailment'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 5, 2015 9:34 AM CDT
Germanwings Pilot Reached Out to Dozens of Doctors
In this Sept. 13, 2009, photo, Andreas Lubitz competes at the Airportrun in Hamburg, Germany.   (AP Photo/Michael Mueller)

A state prosecutor says Andreas Lubitz had reached out to dozens of doctors before crashing a Germanwings airliner into the French Alps. How the AP interprets the news: That suggests Lubitz was desperate to find an explanation for an undisclosed mental or physical ailment, even as he researched ways of killing himself and others. Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin, who is leading a criminal investigation into the March 24 crash that killed all 150 people on board Germanwings Flight 9525, told the AP last night he wouldn't address the question of what symptoms Lubitz was assessing. Investigators say Lubitz intentionally destroyed the plane.

Robin said he will discuss the investigation with victims' relatives in Paris next week and address efforts to reduce delays in handing over remains. Robin said those remains must be embalmed according to the national rules of each of the 19 countries the victims came from, a complex process that has prompted agonizing waits for many families. Just this week, scheduled funerals for some of the victims had to be canceled because of death certificate errors that spurred the delays, the Daily Express reports. Robins' office says the closed-door meeting will take place June 11 in France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. Robin also told the AP that he's now receiving information from authorities abroad as he builds his investigation file, but he says for now "I have decided to prioritize the victims' families." (More Germanwings crash stories.)

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