he co-pilot blamed for deliberately crashing a German airliner into the Alps had concealed an illness from his employers on the day of the tragedy, according to a statement from German prosecutors.
Police found a torn-up note or medical certificate from Andreas Lubitz’s doctor when they searched the Duesseldorf home of the 27-year-old co-pilot on Thursday.
A statement from the prosecutor’s office in Duesseldorf said the documents “indicate an existing disease and appropriate medical treatment.”
The medical note and other documents regarding the need for an extensive medical leave led authorities to assume preliminarily that “the deceased had concealed his illness to the employer and the professional field,”the statement said.
The statement did not disclose the nature of the illness, although the German media reported that he may have suffered from depression.
Lufthansa, Germanwings’ parent company, previously said Lubitz was 100% fit to fly.
Prosecutors said, however, that they found no suicide note or claim of responsibility from the co-pilot who is accused of deliberately crashing the plane, killing 150 people.
It earlier emerged from the French prosecutor’s office that information on the plane’s voice recorder indicated that Lubitz deliberately locked the pilot out of the cockpit and then initiated a descent that led to the deaths of all 150 people on board the plane bound from Barcelona to Dusseldorf on Tuesday. No motive for that version of events has been established.
Investigators searched Lubitz’s apartment in Dusseldorf and the home of his parents in Montabaur, about 40 miles from Bonn. They were seen removing boxes and large blue bags from both residences. The discovery was not a suicide note, police said. No other information was provided on what this discovery may be or whether it was linked to the depression reports.
Unconfirmed reports circulating in the German media suggested that Lubitz, by all official accounts a skilled pilot with a distinguished training record, and who was not being monitored by security services, may have been suffering from depression.
Bild reported that on several occasions his training at Lufthansa’s flight school in Phoenix, Arizona, was interrupted for mental health reasons after he had a “serious depressive episode.” The German tabloid reported that Lubitz may even have undergone treatment after being what it called “demoted” several times during his training in the United States.
The newspaper referred to him as a mass murderer. It said the “episode” was noted on his medical records held by the aviation authorities. Der Spiegel also separately reported the findings that have not been confirmed.
Germany’s Federal Aviation Office would not confirm the report. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said earlier this week in a news conference that Lubitz’s training was “interrupted” six years ago, but he declined to further explain the matter.
Thomas Winkelmann, the low-cost carrier’s chief executive, released a statement on Friday saying that the airline has begun setting up a family assistance center in Marseille, France, and that briefings with family members will start there on Saturday.
“The suffering and pain this catastrophe has caused is immeasurable,” he said in the statement. “No words can express it and no amount of consolation is sufficient but we want to be there for visiting family members and friends if our support is desired.”
