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Germanwings co-pilot searched suicide online: Official

The picture released on March 27, 2015 shows the co-pilot of the crashed Germanwings plane, Andreas Lubitz, in Hamburg, Germany. © AFP

German officials say the co-pilot, who allegedly plunged a Germanwings plane into the Alps, had searched online for methods of committing suicide and the security of cockpit doors.

Duesseldorf’s chief prosecutor Christoph Kumpa said Thursday that in the week before the crash of Flight 9525, Andreas Lubitz searched online for several minutes with search terms relating to suicide, cockpit doors and their security measures.

The crucial information, discovered after browsing the search history on a tablet computer found at Lubitz’s apartment in Duesseldorf, is actually the first evidence proving that last month’s crash was an act of “premeditated murder,” Kumpa said.

Police analysis of the search history on the device showed that Lubitz used the search terms from March 16 to March 23, according to the prosecutor. The history also showed some googling of medical treatment online.

Prosecutors in France have collected pieces of evidence which could prove the downing of the plane was, in fact, deliberate. The internet searches, however, demonstrate that the co-pilot had plans to deliberately crash the plane.

Previous findings had shown that the 27-year-old co-pilot locked his captain out of the cockpit during the flight on March 24 and plunged the plane into a French mountainside, killing all 150 passengers and crew on board.

A handout photo taken on March 31, 2015 and released by the French Interior Ministry on April 1, 2015 shows French rescuers working at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 near Le Vernet, French Alps.  © AFP

 

There have also been speculations that he was suffering from psychological problems.

German flag carrier Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, has come under massive pressure after it emerged that Lubitz had earlier informed the airline about his severe depression.

Lufthansa said earlier this week that the co-pilot had told his employer in 2009 about his illness after an interruption of several months in his flight training. The company, however, added that Lubitz subsequently passed all medical tests and that the related documents have been handed to prosecutors.

MS/MKA/HMV


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